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Illustrative Incidents 

for 

Public Speakers 

BY 

WILL H. BROWN 

Author of "The Call of Service, " "The Legacy of the Golden Key, " etc. 




Cincinnati 

The Standard Publishing Company 



Copyright, 1915 
The Standard Publishing Company 



W 211915 

©CU411617 



/ 



3 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION 

"THE PUBLIC SPEAKER" 

Beecher's Beginning; Things to Remember; Care in Em- 
phasis; Clear Articulation; Ready Utterance; Things to 
Avoid; What Makes for Strength; Within the Time 
Limit; The Danger in Details; Carry a Note-book; 
Power of Geniality; Wonderful Words of Life; The 
Place of the Story 7 

CLASSIFIED ILLUSTRATIONS 



SUBJECT PAGE 

Activity 21 

Appearance 22 

Bible 25 

Boys 29 

Character 30 

Cheerfulness 46 

Childhood 49 

Consistency 51 

Conscience 53 

Conversion 59 

Courage 61 

Courtesy 66 

Duty 67 

Efficiency 68 

Egotism 71 

Environment 72 

Eternity 73 

Example 75 

Expression 76 

^"Extravagance 77 

Faith 78 

Faithfulness 87 

Forgiveness 91 

Friendship 92 

Gambling ■. 94 

Gratitude 96 



SUBJECT PAGE 

Habit 97 

Hate 99 

Helpfulness 100 

Home 103 

Honor 104 

Honesty 106 

Hope 108 

Humility 109 

Hypocrisy 110 

Independence 115 

Influence 116 

Ingenuity 125 

Jesus 126 

Judgment 128 

Kindness 130 

Knowledge 135 

Life 137 

Little Things 139 

Love 145 

Matrimony 155 

Memory 157 

Merit 158 

Missions 160 

Money 162 

Mother 165 

Nature 169 



4 



CONTENTS 



SUBJECT PAGE 

Negligence 171 

Obstacles 173 

Old Age 175 

Opportunity 177 

Patience 180 

Patriotism 182 

Perseverance 183 

Personality 191 

Power 192 

Prayer 193 

Prejudice , 196 

Preparation 198 

Pretense 207 

Progress 208 

Providence 210 

Purpose 212 

Responsibility 215 

Sacrifice 218 

Salvation 221 



SUBJECT PAGE 

Self-control 224 

Selfishness 226 

Service 228 

Sin 241 

Sincerity 246 

Success 248 

Sympathy 250 

Tact 254 

Talents 258 

Temperance 259 

Temptation 268 

Thoroughness 271 

Tobacco , 274 

Union 275 

Unselfishness 277 

Values 280 

War 283 

"Watchfulness 284 

Wisdom 285 



MISCELLANEOUS 

SEPARATE LINKS. 

Greed 289 Prudence 291 

Harvest 289 Retribution 291 

Heredity 290 Trifles 292 

Indecision 290 Trustfulness 292 

Infidelity 290 Weeping 293 

Precedent 291 

USE OF OBJECTS 

THE APPEAL THROUGH THE EYE. 



OBJECT SUBJECT 

Alphabet Blocks 296 Blessedness 306 

Apples 296 Blindness 296 



Bandage 296 Carelessness 



301 



Bank-book 297 Character 298 

Baseball 297 Cheerfulness 310 



Bells .. 
Boards 
Books 



297 Choosing 296-308 

298 Conduct 296-301 

298 Conscience 297 



Bottles 299 Courtesy 304 



CONTENTS 



3 



OBJECT PAGE 

Bread 299 

Brick 300 

Bridle 300 

Buckets 300 

Candles 301 

Carbon-paper 301 

Cotton 301 

Dummy or Large Doll.... 302 

Eggs 302 

Electric-light Bulb 303 

Electric-light Wire 303 

Eraser 303 

Envelopes 304 

Flags 304 

Glass 304 

Keys 305 

Ladders 305 

Mask 306 

Matches 307 

Money 307 

Motion 308 

Mud 309 

Petrifaction 309 

Plants 309 

Pictures 310 

Poison 310 

Postage-stamps 311 

Scales 311 

String 311 

Stationery 312 

Steel 312 

Tools 313 

Toy Balloon 314 

Watch 314 



SUBJECT 



PAGE 



Deception 307 

Determination 31o 

Envy 296 

Effectiveness 303 

Environment 309 

Example 303-310 

Forgiveness 303 

Gossip 309-313 

Growth 299-308-311-312 

Habits 297-311 

Harmony 313 

Idols and Idlers 302 

Influence 301-312 

Insincerity 306 

Living 309 

Love 305-314 

Mind 299 

Missions 304 

Perseverance 311 

Prejudice 304 

Progress 305 

Purity 308 

Selfishness 299 

Self-control 300 

Service 311 

Talents 300-307 

Testing 302 

Thoughts 310 

Tongues 307 

Treasures 297 

Trifles 300 

Trouble 314 

United Effort 311 

Wisdom 298 



BETTER THAN A SCRAPBOOK 

A Convenient Clipping System 315 

AN OCCASIONAL PRIVILEGE 

Effective Method of Raising Money 317 

SEED THOUGHTS 

Suggestions in Paragraphs 319 



INTRODUCTION 



"THE PUBLIC SPEAKER." 

BEECHER'S BEGINNING. 

"Success comes in cans, failures in can'ts," was said in a talk 
to young men. 

Generally considered, the person who is determined to ac- 
quire the ability to speak well in public will succeed. Dr. John 
F. Cowan says of Beecher: "He was naturally thick of speech, 
owing to an enlarged palate, and as a boy talked as if he had 
mush in his mouth. He was dull in learning from books, and 
awkward. But he had so much of the unscared spirit that he 
would spend a whole hour practicing a single word. And when 
later this magnificent orator was able to seize upon the emotions 
of an apathetic audience, and stir his hearers to tempestuous 
applause, as a cloudburst converts a dry stream into a roaring 
torrent, it was simply the triumph of the unscared man." 

In this day of varied activities and numerous organizations, 
the ability to make acceptable and helpful public talks is no 
longer confined to ministers, lawyers and lecturers. Many persons 
in the great army of workers in the churches, Sunday schools, 
young people's societies, clubs and lodges are capable of respond- 
ing to requests for short talks or addresses. 

In order to interest others, the speaker should talk of things 
in which he is himself interested, and concerning which he is 
informed. Ambassador James Bryce once said : "The man who 
has something to say, and who is known never to speak unless 
he has, is sure to be listened to. Arrange your thoughts in 
some sort of order. No matter how brief, they will be better 

7 



8 



INTRODUCTION 



for having a beginning, a middle and an end. Never read from 
manuscript if you can avoid it." 

TWO THINGS TO REMEMBER. 

Association Men, official organ of the Young Men's Christian 
Association, gives this suggestion: "The first and last words 
challenge attention and fix the message. A speaker, addressing 
a college students' meeting, caught a hearing and carried a 
thought in his talk with these words: 'What we are to be, we 
are now becoming.' An epigram sticks and furnishes the nail 
to hang the coat on that fits the hearer. A man must be so 
charged with his subject that his words will be as thunderbolts 
hurled with striking force upon his audience. Make a hit, not 
a noise." 

CARE IN EMPHASIS. 

Jefferson's view of this phase of public speaking is given 
thus: "I don't mean that a minister is never to speak loud. If 
he has a great voice, he has a right to let it out in thunder tones 
when the thought flashes and his emotions rise in tempests. But 
bellowing simply for the sake of making a noise is always bad." 

While the following appeared in print as a jest, it has a point 
that some would do well to heed: "I see you have a sounding- 
board at the back of the minister's pulpit," said Baron. "What 
do you suppose that's for?" "Why," replied Egbert, "it's to 
throw out the sound." "Gracious!" said Baron, "if you throw 
out the sound, there wouldn't be anything left of the sermon!" 

Some speakers, much in earnest, wishing to lay emphasis on 
certain points of an address, easily fall into the mistake of 
emphasizing the larger part of it. The peaks in a mountain 
range that impress us most are the ones that lift high their 
heads above their surroundings. 

The folly of overemphasis in speaking may be compared to 
a certain book, the author of which presumably had this fault. 
On the first page alone he used italics eight times, had several 



INTRODUCTION 



9 



words in capitals, some in small capitals and still others in 
black-faced type. In fact, nearly every conceivable form of 
emphasis was used over and over again, with the result that 
nothing was made to appear of special importance. Applied to 
a public address, it would be much like one big, long roar — 
unpleasant to every hearer. 

CLEAR ARTICULATION. 

Equal in value to having something worth while to say, is 
to say it so it can be understood. A good rule is to speak as if 
addressing your words to those who are farthest from you. 
Nathan Shepherd, in his book, "Before an Audience," says: 

"It is impossible to overestimate the importance of a good, 
trustworthy, uniform articulation to the public speaker. He can 
have no more useful form of ability than audibility. Distinct- 
ness is vital. Indistinctness is fatal. Chatham was noted for 
his distinct articulation, which was a physical attainment, culti- 
vated with assiduous pains. His whisper penetrated everywhere, 
and his full voice was overwhelming." 

Mrs. Macey, the wonderful teacher of the marvelous Helen 
Keller, is one of the most pleasing speakers ever heard on the 
American platform, largely because she is one of the most dis- 
tinct in articulation. She is practically perfect in this respect. 
In talking to Helen Keller she gives full, careful utterance to 
every word, in order that her pupil, with hand on the muscles 
of her teacher's throat, may distinctly feel every movement of 
the muscles, and thus know what Mrs. Macey says, though she 
can not hear a sound of any kind. 

This is a striking example of the importance of speaking 
clearly, and a goal well worth the striving for of every public 
speaker. Aside from the pleasure afforded persons whose hear- 
ing is normal, the distinct voice is greatly appreciated by those 
who are "hard of hearing," who often get but little of what is 
said — not because the speaker's voice is not loud enough, but be- 



10 



INTRODUCTION 



cause his articulation is not distinct enough. There are others 
who are enabled to follow the speaker's thought by watching the 
movement of the lips. The more careful the pronunciation, the 
more distinct the lip movements. 

Jerry Albert Pierce, a speech-reader of sixty years' standing, 
says that the ability to read the lips is of advantage even to 
those who have normal ears, and that many persons possess 
this ability to some degree, without realizing it. "A conversation 
between any two individuals," he writes in the Volta Review, 
Washington, D. C, "is not completely heard. Part of it is seen. 
People speaking to each other almost invariably stand face to 
face. They are reading the lips, simply because speech-reading 
renders the strain on the auditory organs less acute." 

This shows the advantage of having every hearer in an audi- 
ence seated where he can see the speaker. 

READY UTTERANCE. 

Closely akin to careless, slovenly pronunciation, as an annoy- 
ance to the auditors, is the occasional habit of some speakers 
in stammering, halting, hesitating — not because of an imped- 
iment of speech, but often because of a foggy state of mind, an 
indefinite idea of what to say. This may be due to carelessness, 
lack of preparation, lack of proper rest, or overeating a short 
time previous to speaking. Some speakers make it a rule to 
omit the meal immediately preceding the making of an address 
of importance. One of the merits of fasting is in leaving the 
mind clearer. After-dinner talks at feasts are not here referred 
to, because such are usually in a light vein, requiring but little 
effort at mental continuity. 

THINGS TO AVOID. 

Personal mannerisms should be eliminated as far as possible 
by him who wishes his message to go straight to his hearers, 
without diversion or hindrance of any kind. A prominent min- 



INTRODUCTION 



11 



ister had the habit of taking hold of his collar, as if to adjust it. 
Another made sudden, jerky motions of the hand as if to stroke 
back his hair, frequently never touching it. A Sunday-school 
superintendent rested his thumbs in his trousers pockets. A 




ADJUSTING THE COLLAR. STROKING THE HAIR. 



woman teacher clenched her fists and shook them nervously 
toward her pupils when speaking. A boy in one of her classes 
refused to attend because it made him restless to watch her. The 



12 



INTRODUCTION 



president of a college held his hands partly clasped and twirled 
his thumbs while speaking. A friend asked him : "Doctor, why- 
do you always twirl your thumbs this way?" making the motion. 





THUMBS IN THE POCKETS. 



TWIRLING THE THUMBS. 



The reply was, "I don't always make them go that way. Some- 
times I make them go this way," twirling them backward. 

If you have any pet phrases, better drop them too. A popular 
orator often said in his public discourses, "What I am trying to 



INTRODUCTION 



13 



get you to see is," etc. With some it is, "That reminds me." 
[With others, "That makes me think." Still others, "I'm here to 
tell you." 

The importance of proper attire should not be overlooked. 
Extremes should be avoided by the speaker who wishes the 
closest possible attention to his or her message. The most com- 
mon fault in this respect is a conspicuous display of jewelry, 
flashing and sparkling with the changing positions of the wearer. 
Modest-appearing watch-chains, rings or other articles are not 
out of place, neither is expensive clothing, if made up in a simple, 
becoming manner. Disheveled hair is inexcusable, as is anything 
else indicating carelessness in regard to one's appearance. 

WHAT MAKES FOR STRENGTH. 

Gestures may be an aid or a hindrance. "An Italian psycholo- 
gist," says Grit, "maintains that as an orator's gestures are in- 
voluntary, they afford a test of his sincerity. For instance, if 
the speaker plays with his watch-chain he is on his guard, and 
his utterances are not entirely frank." 

A minister who held one of the most important pastorates on 
the Pacific Coast, and who was later chosen president of a well- 
known college in the East, spoke to great audiences every Sun- 
day, scarcely moving from his position or raising a hand from 
the beginning to the close of his sermons. Moreover, his voice 
was pitched neither high nor low, the range being less than that 
of the average speaker. And yet the people flocked to his 
church. Why? Because he had something to say. There was 
meat in every sentence. His sermons were not long. When he 
had finished a discourse he didn't spoil it by "Just another 
thought," or by "It has just occurred to me." He left his few 
points, clothed in beautiful, striking language, lodged in recep- 
tive hearts. The people went away impressed by what all hear- 
ers should be impressed with — the message of the speaker. 

Other speakers, just as effective, move about on the platform, 



14 



INTRODUCTION 



use many gestures, and modulate the voice from soft tones to 
loud. Perhaps the best advice at this point is: Be clear. Be 
earnest. Be natural. Be yourself. Don't imitate. 

The most popular speaker is he who quits with his hearers 
wishing he would go on, and not the one who goes on while his 
hearers are wishing he would stop. "An inch isn't much space," 
some one has said, "but if placed on the end of your nose would 
spoil your countenance." Ten minutes isn't much time, but it 
has spoiled many an address that should have been that much 
shorter. 

The tendency to hold on is often due to the desire to give as 
much information- or make as many points as possible. Infor- 
mation briefly, strikingly presented stands a much better chance 
of being retained than that surrounded by a lot of second-rate 
expressions. Sufficient food at one time is more agreeable and 
helpful than too much. 

WITHIN THE TIME LIMIT. 

It is often noticeable at conventions that some speakers re- 
quest "a little more time." If granted, it usually means that 
others on the program must be robbed of a portion of theirs, 
or that the session is prolonged until every one is tired. This 
has become so general that in many assemblies the buzzer is 
used. The man who must be called down by the buzzer, after 
the first gentle warning of a minute more for him, almost in- 
variably loses favor with his hearers. 

At a largely attended Sunday-school institute the presiding 
officer was apparently about to grant an extension of time to the 
person who had been speaking, when the next man on the pro- 
gram arose and protested, stating that he had an important 
message on which he had spent much care, and was prepared to 
give it at the time, and within the time, allotted him ; that he did 
not wish to be crowded nor have his time cut down. Who will 
say he did not do just the right thing? 



INTRODUCTION 



15 



If it is ever your privilege to introduce or present a speaker 
to an audience, be brief — very brief. It frequently seems that 
the one chosen for this duty considers it an opportunity to ex- 
hibit something of his own ability. It is often the case that the 
speaker is better known to most of the people present, at least 
by reputation, than the one introducing him — another reason for 
a very brief, modest talk by the latter. 

THE DANGER IN DETAILS. 

One of the most common faults of public speakers — some- 
times found even among those of wide reputation — is that of 
indulging in too much detail, not only proving wearisome to the 
average hearer, but often obscuring the real point. Those who 
are frank with themselves and know this to be a weakness, may 
overcome it by first writing out incidents as they are wont to 
tell them, then cut them down one-fourth or one-half. It is 
surprising how often this can be done without omitting anything 
of genuine importance, with the added advantages of brevity 
and clearness. 

Soon after the close of the Spanish-American War in 1898, 
a Kansas City daily paper offered a prize for the best answer, 
given in one hundred words or less, to the question: "Which 
was the greatest exploit? That of Dewey, Schley or Hobson, 
and why?" 

It will be remembered that Dewey, in command of the United 
States fleet at Manila, sunk the Spanish ships there; that Schley 
routed the Spanish naval forces at Santiago de Cuba; and that 
Hobson conceived and executed the idea of sinking the collier 
"Merrimac," three hundred feet in length, in the narrow channel 
leading to the harbor in which the Spanish fleet had taken refuge 
— this for the purpose of bottling up the Spanish ships, thus 
making reasonably sure their capture by United States forces. 

As will readily be seen, response to such a proposition made 
brevity inevitable. No doubt many of the nearly one thousand 



16 



INTRODUCTION 



who competed received a valuable lesson in expressing much in 
few words. Here is one of the letters: 

"Hobson, in his hazardous exploit, exemplified Herculean 
heroism. Dewey and Schley, old, experienced naval men, con- 
fident of victory, obeyed compensatory orders, while Hobson 
willingly faced death, expecting no prize money, promotion or 
other earthly reward. None had a right to command the sacri- 
fice this young man volunteered. Himself and seven courageous 
comrades, penetrating a narrow, dangerous channel, defied forts, 
mines, battleships and perils incident to sinking the 'Merrimac/ 
without human protection. Dewey, with a strong squadron, 
piloted safely into Manila Bay, encountered less danger, while 
Schley, with ships in abundance, had neither mines nor forts to 
fear." 

CARRY A NOTE-BOOK. 

It is generally understood that a wide range of reading is 
necessary for a public speaker, whatever degree of ability he 
may possess. But here is something well worth remembering: 
While much reading is important, it can not take the place of 
personal contact with the people. In this way only, it might be 
affirmed, can one be able to present a live subject in a vital man- 
ner. Some of the most noted and successful public speakers 
make it a rule to always carry a note-book, and when a story 
or an idea comes to mind, suggested by something seen or heard, 
jot it down immediately. It is possible in this way to obtain 
much splendid material not to be found in books or papers, the 
using of which gives an originality to one's address which is 
refreshing to the hearers. 

A great financier once said: "I go to school to every person 
I meet. I never lose the opportunity to get a man's point of 
view, no matter who he is. Some of the most valuable infor- 
mation I have, has come to me from talking with workingmen. 
I know my own point of view. I must get theirs if I would be 
cosmopolitan, international." 



INTRODUCTION 



17 



POWER OF GENIALITY. 

It is a matter of more significance than might be surmised by 
many that the speaker should be in good humor. A frank, 
cheerful countenance and a kindly tone are splendid conductors 
of messages, particularly if the speaker is to address an audi- 
ence composed of those who are opposed to his views. If he 
does not succeed in bringing all to his way of thinking, he will 
win more in this manner than by antagonizing them, and will 
retain the confidence and respect of every one. 

H. Clay Trumbull says : "If there is one thing more important 
than another in a speaker's efforts to win his hearers, it is that 
he shall take his start at a point where he and they are in agree- 
ment, and not at a point of their differences." 

If interrupted by an auditor with a question, treat him fairly, 
honorably, regardless of the spirit he may manifest. Your im- 
partiality and perfect self-control under such circumstances will 
have much to do with the further favorable reception of your 
message. 

WONDERFUL WORDS OF LIFE. 

The climax of all factors in the preparation and presentation 
of an address is the ability to wisely use words. They are mar- 
velous, living things. Every speaker should give this subject 
thorough, careful study. A column editorial in the Atlanta 
Constitution on the use of words included the following: 

"Jesus himself said: 'My words, they are spirit and they are 
life.' Words have peculiar value and force in the processes of 
life. Each one is instinct with the spirit of the idea for which it 
stands, and has the power in itself to quicken the hearer into life 
and action. Words start, arrest or modify action, whether physi- 
cal, mental or spiritual. The 'Forward!' and the 'Halt!' of the 
captain sets in motion or brings to a standstill the single soldier 
or the whole embattled line of the army. Words make wars, 
give birth to nations, exalt and debase rulers, scourge or bless 



18 



INTRODUCTION 



millions, build up or break down the safeguards of human society 
through the mighty measure of their power over the thoughts 
and motions of mankind. 

"Yet human words are powerless unless they speak from life 
to life. The wireless telegraph works only when the sender 
and receiver are in sympathetic tune with each other. They 
must vibrate with identical rhythm in order that words may pass 
and produce their effects. So it must be among men. The 
speaker and the hearer must have chords of sympathy that will 
mutually vibrate within the gamut of concord. This is the key 
which leads to the unravelment of the strange threads of power 
by which one man moves another, or moves many, to righteous- 
ness or ruin." 

It is said of Jesus in John 7:46: "Never man spake like this 
man." Back of his perfect use of words was his perfect life; 
his absolute sincerity; his love for and understanding of human 
beings. Just in proportion as men possess these qualities will 
they be able to speak for the uplifting of humanity. While it is 
possible to become eloquent in oratory without being sincere, 
truthful or consistent, he who does so may succeed in entertain- 
ing or amusing his hearers, but never in helping or instructing 
them. It is a most degrading, unworthy use of the ability to 
speak in public. 

THE PLACE OF THE STORY. 

Again it is said of Jesus: "Without a parable spake he not 
unto them." 

Yes, the greatest of all teachers made constant use of the 
story. Frequently it was concerning some object in nature, 
which those to whom he was speaking could behold — the lily, the 
fig-tree, sowing of grain, the bramble and thorn, the mustard 
seed, the wheat and the tares. Or, it was of things and condi- 
tions with which they were familiar — the draw-net, the lost 
sheep, the lost coin, the unjust steward, the pounds, the prodigal 



INTRODUCTION 



19 



son, the ten virgins, the talents, the good Samaritan, the laborers 
in the vineyard. 

If the perfect Teacher had such an important place for the 
story, the illustration, well may all public speakers and teachers 
strive to make good use of the same. Stories of human interest, 
that touch the heart; of objects in nature, that appeal to the 
mind; of odd and strange happenings, that impress by contrast. 

The purpose in presenting this volume is to furnish just such 
material, with a variety of classified illustrations that may prove 
a ready, welcome help to the busy person, whether preparing to 
give a short talk at an informal gathering, or an address on an 
occasion of recognized public importance. 



CLASSIFIED ILLUSTRATIONS 

ACTIVITY. 

PAINTING A GREAT TOWER. 

Fifteen men are constantly employed in painting the great 
Blackpool steel tower, in England, to prevent rust and decay. 

He who would maintain a strong character, free from the 
rust of monotony and the decay of carelessness, must be con- 
stantly active along helpful lines. 

"IROXS IN THE FIRE." 

Adam Clarke said that the old proverb about having too many 
irons in the fire was false. Wesley traveled five thousand miles 
in a year, usually preached three times a day, and his published 
works reached nearly two hundred volumes. Asbury traveled 
six thousand miles a year and preached incessantly. Coke 
crossed the Atlantic eighteen times, preached, wrote, traveled, 
established missions and raised money for their support. — 
Stevens. 

WHY THE HOUSE SANK. 

While a contractor was debating the best landing-place for a 
house which he had successfully moved a distance of half a mile 
over a small frozen lake in Minnesota, the building sank in six 
feet of water. The ice, which was ten inches thick, was abun- 
dantly strong to support the structure while it was moving along, 
but could not bear up the dead weight when it was brought to a 
standstill. 

If you are a professing Christian, a church-member, keep 
moving along with your part of the work — keep busy. If you 

21 



22 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



stop to criticize, to find fault, your dead weight will not only be 
a burden that the church can not afford to bear, but you may 
lose your soul — may go down to spiritual death in the cold waters 
of indifference. 

SNAIL'S REAL PACE. 

George Zahnizer, a civil engineer, was waiting for a train at 
a country station, and occupied the time by studying a snail 
which was creeping along the ground, relates London Tit-Bits, 
ascertaining that it moved at the rate of one foot in four min- 
utes, or one mile in sixteen days. 

There is this difference between a snail and a certain type 
of human beings — the latter do not even progress a mile in six- 
teen days. They stand still in all that counts for human progress 
or happiness. If they move at all, it is to go around in a very 
small circle. 

SOME PHYSICAL FACTS. 

"When a man rises from a sitting to a standing posture, he 
doubles the force of his pressure on the ground. Standing still, 
the pressure acts vertically downward, but on moving he exerts 
a side thrust greater than his weight." 

The above simply has reference to a man's physical move- 
ments, but the same process marks his influence for the uplift 
of others. In sitting — idleness — it is very little. Arising — mak- 
ing a beginning — it is doubled. Moving — doing something worth 
while— he exerts a "side thrust" that will be felt in an ever- 
widening circle of good deeds. 

APPEARANCE. 

ON LOOKING ONE'S BEST. 

A pleasing appearance, when it is the result of intention and 
effort, is generally the indication of a desire to please in more 
substantial ways. People who like to look their best are apt to 
like to do their best. It is safe to assume, as a general thing, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 23 



that one who is careful about his appearance will be careful 
about his manner of life, his mental habits and his work.— 
James Buckham. 

HIS CHOICE, AND WHY. 

It is often true that persons thought to be dull and unob- 
serving see deeper than many who boast of their keen insight. 
In an English village lived a boy who was considered stupid, 
says the Tatler, and the men there found delight in offering him 
the choice between a three-penny bit and a penny, of which he 
invariably chose the latter. One day a stranger asked the boy 
for his reason for doing so, presuming it was because the penny 
was the largest. 

"Naw," said the boy, "not that. If I took the three-penny 
bit, they'd quit offerin' it." 

SHE WOULDN'T PAY. 

Persons who are hasty in reaching conclusions, based on 
appearances, frequently have embarrassing experiences. "I shall 
have to ask you for a ticket for that boy, ma'am," insisted a con- 
ductor, speaking to a quiet-looking little woman seated beside a 
boy on a Pennsylvania train. 

The woman declined to pay for the lad, saying she had never 
done so before. "You'll pay for that boy, or I'll stop the train 
and put him off," he persisted. 

"All right, put him off," she said calmly. 

"You ought to know what the rules of this road are, ma'am. 
How old is that boy?" 

"I don't know. I never saw him before." — Philadelphia 
Ledger. 

v STRANGERS TO SOAP. 

Chester A. Arthur, when serving as President, refused to 
appoint a certain man to a public office, believing he was unfit 
for the place, basing his opinion upon the man's personal appear- 



24 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



ance. "He called on me once*" said the President. "His hands 
were unclean, his clothes soiled, his breath bad. There is some- 
thing wrong with a person who will not take care of his personal 
appearance. Water and soap are cheap, and clean clothes may be 
had by any one." 

However, Mr. Arthur yielded to persuasion, and made the 
appointment, much against his will. The man had been in office 
but a few months when it became necessary to remove him 
because of disgraceful conduct. 

HADN'T CAUGHT UP. 

Personal cleanliness and neatness is an essential condition for 
the worthy poor who would ask or expect the aid of others. 
Garments ever so faded or patched may be worn with honor, if 
clean, while filth and rags will turn many a kind-hearted, well- 
disposed person away from those seeking aid, thus attired. It 
is a mistaken idea that sympathy may be won by appearing as 
untidy as possible. 

The story is told of a seedy-looking man calling at a house 
and asking assistance, saying he was a sailor, and had "follered 
the water for sixteen years." 

"Well," said the woman, after a critical look, "you certainly 
don't look as if you ever caught up with it." 

Then she turned away without helping him. 

GOOD RECOMMENDATIONS. 

Several boys responded to an advertisement, applying for a 
position. All but one brought papers from former employers 
attesting to their good points, but the one who brought no letter 
of recommendation was chosen for the place. A friend asked 
the business man how it happened, says the Boys' World, to 
which he replied: 

"No, he gave me no papers, but I read a whole lot, just the 
same. In the first place, he wiped his feet on the mat at the 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 25 



door. Then he jumped up at once to give his seat to a lame 
boy that came in soon after. He answered my questions without 
the slightest hesitation or slang. He picked up a book I had 
purposely left on the floor. His clothes were carefully brushed, 
his teeth clean and his hair combed. Oh. there were a lot of 
things I read in that boy — that's why I took him." 

WHY HE BURNED HIS VEST. 

In his days of youth. Congressman Barnes had a dotted 
green vest which had been made over for him from that of an 
ancestor, we read. He wore it one day when seeking work, 
thinking it would surely make an impression in his favor. 
Approaching the proprietor of a large mill, he stated his desire. 
The man immediately caught sight of the vest, and replied : 

"I'll take you on one condition, and that is that you burn 
that vest right away — burn it up before my eyes hurt more." 

The owner of the garment sorrowfully complied, putting it 
in the stove, whereupon the man kindly placed his hand on his 
shoulder, remarking: 

"You've got pluck, and you'll go ahead. But never outdress 
your position. Dress clean and dress like a man/" 

In telling of the incident, the Congressman added: 

"So through the years the memory of that vest and my first 
job have kept my clothes sensible."' 

BIBLE. 

INFIDELITY ANSWERED. 

The printing-press from which Voltaire's infidel works were 
issued has been used to print the word of God. Chesterfield's 
parlor, once an infidel clubroom. is now a vestry where Chris- 
tians meet for prayer and praise. Hume predicted the death of 
Christianity in twenty years, but the first meeting of the Bible 
Society in Edinburgh was held in the room where he died. Paine, 



26 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



on landing in New York, predicted that in five years not a Bible 
would be found in the United States, but there are more Bible 
societies in America to-day than in any other country in the 
world. — Answer of a Christian to an Unbeliever (Nye). 

THE TRUE LIGHT. 

The Bible is like a lighthouse. The New Testament is the 
lantern. There are four plate-glass sides to it, the Gospels ; and 
inside is one intense glow, flashing its radiance everywhere. 
That one light is He who said: "I am the light of the world." — 
P. Waugh. 

LINCOLN'S ADVICE. 

Joshua Speed found Lincoln one summer night reading the 
Bible, and remarked: "If you have recovered from your skep- 
ticism, I am sorry that I have not." 

Looking him earnestly in the face and placing a hand on his 
shoulder, Lincoln said kindly: "You are wrong, Speed. Take 
all of this Book on reason that you can, and the balance on 
faith, and you will live and die a happier man." 

EXPENSIVE COPY OF THE BIBLE. 

The Gutenberg Bible, the first book ever printed from mov- 
able type, and which finally came into the hands of Robert Hoc, 
was sold at a public auction of Hoe's books, in New York, to 
Henry E. Huntington, of Los Angeles, for $50,000. The book 
was printed about the year 1450. 

Fortunately, the possession of a copy of the Bible does not 
depend upon the ability to pay a large price for it. The value 
is not in the style of type or binding used, or the date printed, 
but in the words of life contained therein. "The word of our 
God shall stand for ever" (Isa. 40:8). Christ says: "The words 
that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life." When 
Peter and John were in Samaria to bring the Holy Spirit upon 
certain persons by the laying on of hands, Simon came and 
offered them money, saying: "Give me also this power, that on 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 27 



whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit." 
But Peter said unto him: "Thy silver perish with thee, because 
thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money." 

The tendency to weigh money against religion was again 
manifested when Paul's preaching at Ephesus caused many to 
give up their false worship, thus seriously interfering with the 
business of the silversmiths in the sale of idols — so much so that 
Demetrius called the workmen together and cried out: "Sirs, 
ye know that by this craft we have our wealth!" 

ONE BOOK FOR HIM. 

When Stanley started across the continent of Africa, he had 
seventy- three books, but as the journey continued through the 
days and weeks he was obliged to gradually throw away the 
books until they were all gone but one — the Bible. It is said he 
read it through three times on that remarkable trip. It is the 
one Book that lives through the ages ; that has stood the test of 
all centuries and earth's greatest minds. A noted professor in 
the University of Edinburgh was asked by its librarian to go 
into the library and pick out all the books on his specialty that 
were no longer needed. His reply was, "Take every text-book 
over ten years old and put it in the cellar." 

TESTING A SHIP'S COMPASS. 

A California man who made a trip to Palestine told of the 
great rock, Gibraltar, and added : "When we moved slowly away 
I was surprised to observe that our ship made a complete circle 
before putting out to sea, and inquired the reason. I was 
informed that because of the heavy electrically charged mines 
maintained in the harbor by the British Government, all steel 
ships are required to make a circle, as did ours, these mines 
sometimes proving disastrous to the ship's magnetic needle. If 
it stands the test, it is considered safe as a guide for the remain- 
der of the voyage. So I would say to young people just starting 
out on life's sea: if you have God's word as a guide, you are 



23 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



ready to make the start, for this Book has stood the test of ages. 
It will never fail you." 

THE WORLD'S MIRROR. 

The long-distance mirror is a remarkable invention. The 
New York American says that in a test at Vallejo, California, on 
a dark night, a perfect picture of the district within a radius of 
two miles was clearly reflected. It is generally conceded that its 
principal value will be its use on ships, in preventing collisions 
with other ships, icebergs or derelicts, by disclosing the location 
of such dangers long before the vessel comes near them. It is 
claimed, too, that it would prove serviceable in time of war. 

Important as it is to prevent shipwrecks by every possible 
means, it is nothing compared with the importance of preventing 
human wrecks. The whole world has a mirror given for this 
very purpose — the Bible. Hear the great apostle, Paul, in 2 Cor. 
3 : 18 : "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror 
the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from 
glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit." 

POVERTY DUE TO NEGLECT. 

An old man in New Jersey discovered about $5,000 in bank 
notes in a family Bible. In 1874 his aunt died, and one clause of 
her will read: "To my beloved nephew I will and bequeath my 
family Bible and all it contains, with the residue of my estate 
after my funeral expenses and just, lawful debts are paid." The 
estate amounted to only a few hundred dollars, which was soon 
spent; and her nephew neglected his Bible for thirty-five years, 
not knowing of the treasures it contained. He lived in poverty 
all this time. At last, while packing his trunk to move to his 
son, with whom he expected to spend his remaining years, he 
discovered the money hidden away in the Bible. Those who 
neglect to read their Bibles lose even greater treasures than 
those of this world. — American Messenger, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 29 



BOYS. 

NOVEL ADMISSION FEE. 

At Bay Shore, Long Island, a banquet was given by the 
Men's Brotherhood to the boys of the community. It was desired 
to interest them in the Sunday school. Every member was 
requested to bring a boy as the price of admission. 

THAT LITTLE CHAP O' MINE. 

To feel his little hand in mine, so clinging and so warm; 

To know he thinks me strong enough to keep him safe from harm; 

To see his simple faith in all that I can say or do — 

It sort o' shames a fellow, but it makes him better, too; 

And I reckon I'm a better man than what I used to be, 

Because I have this chap at home who thinks the world o' me. 

— Author Unknown. 

THE BOYS' ROOM STILL. 

There's a little room at the head of the stairs 

That has always been known as the boys'; 
It would hardly seem right not to call it theirs, 

When you look at the books and the toys. 
The drum brooding there in th esilence alone, 

And the fife that shall never more thrill; 
Though many the years that have come and gone, 

Yet we call it the "Boys' Room still. 

As a pilgrim I come, at the close of the day, 

To this shrine of the long, long ago; 
And lo, as I kneel in the silence to pray, 

There are whisperings fond that I know. 
My heart gives itself to the visional thrall, 

While the twilight dies out of the west; 
The drum may not summon, the fife may not call, 

Yet I keep with the phantoms their quest. 

— D. A. Ellsworth, in Kansas City Star. 

LEARN THE REASON. 

When boys are found delinquent in some way, and are com- 
monly called bad, it's better to investigate the cause, and remedy 
it, if possible, than to criticize and send them to a reformatory 



30 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



institution. There are many proofs of the wisdom of such a 
course. Here is just one: In 1909, in the grammar schools of 
Philadelphia, 326 boys were declared bad, stupid and incorrigible. 
A local physician began a study of the problem. Each boy was 
carefully examined, and in every instance the lads were found 
to have defective eyes. The city spent $400 for glasses for them, 
which resulted in a remarkable change of conduct. Two years 
later it was reported that 310 of the boys were sound, happy, 
studious and on the roll of honor! 

While defective physical eyesight was the cause of delin- 
quency in the cases of these boys, it is just as true that defective 
mental and moral vision is the cause of much wrong -on the part 
of adults. 

"Where there is no vision, the people perish." 

* RECIPE FOR A MAN. 

Some pluck and patience, a good deal of work, 

With never a hint of the will to shirk; 

A cheerful temper, unselfish deeds, 

And a lot of earnestness, each boy needs. 

A good deal of study, and plenty of play — 
Be sure you do it the very best way. 
Just follow this recipe, laddie, and see 
In a few years what a man you'll be! 

— Jean Halifax. 

CHARACTER. 

WHEN HE WAS STRONGEST. 

Frederick the Great once wrote to his Government: "I have 
just lost a battle, and it is my own fault." Commenting upon 
this, Goldsmith said: "His confession showed more greatness 
than his victories." 

THE HERO OF AUTHORS. 

A large company of representative authors once took a vote 
as to the best story in all literature, considered simply as a liter- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 31 



ary product. By a large majority they voted for the story of 
Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. — Maclaren. 

MONEY COULD NOT BUY. 

Gen. Robert E. Lee was once offered $10,000 a year for the 
use of his name in connection with a State lottery, at a time 
when money was a pressing necessity with him. His reply to 
those who made the proposal was : "Gentlemen, my name is all 
I have left, and that is not for sale." 

WHY HE MOVED. 

A new Government survey which resulted in a change of the 
boundary-line between Massachusetts and Vermont didn't suit 
one sentimental man, and, rather than be considered a resident 
of the latter State, he moved his house, at an expense of $1,000, 
into the other, which he supposed had been his home for years. 

The most essential of two questions is not where, but how, 
we live. 

OPINION OF A FINANCIER. 

The value of character as a business asset was the subject 
of a part of J. Pierpont Morgan's testimony before the money- 
trust investigation in Washington in 1912. The question was 
asked him: "Commercial credits are based upon the possession 
of money or property?" to which he replied: "No, sir; the first 
thing is character, before money or anything else. Money can 
not buy it." 

WHY WALLS CRACK. 

No matter how good the walls and the materials are, if the 
foundations are not strong, the building will not stand. By and 
by, in some upper room, a crack will appear, and men will say: 
"There is the crack, but the cause is in the foundation." So if, 
in youth, you lay the foundations of your character wrongly, the 
penalty will be sure to follow. The crack may be far down in 
old age, but somewhere it will certainly appear. — Beecher. 
3 



32 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



THUGS USE RED PEPPER. 

Jewelry and uncut gems to the value of over $50,000 were 
stolen from a New York salesman by thugs, who first threw red 
pepper in his eyes, so blinding and paining him that he was prac- 
tically helpless. 

Be careful, friend, that the devil does not throw gold dust 
into your eyes. If he succeeds, you will be so blinded to all that 
makes life worth living that you will be an easy victim to his 
designs. He is after your soul. 

NO SUBSTITUTES. 

Among the things mentioned by a popular magazine for 
which it says no practical substitute has been found are gutta 
percha and cork. 

Many articles of common use are made of material different 
from what they appear. Perhaps in time substitutes may be 
found for the things mentioned, but we may rest assured that a 
substitute for honor, for truth, will never be found. Nothing 
can take their places. They are priceless. Cling to them at all 
times and under all conditions. 

FAR DOWN IN THE EARTH. 

Perhaps, when looking at some great building, you have won- 
dered how so much weight could be sustained by the foundation, 
little thinking how firm it may be. One of the deepest founda- 
tions in the world is said to be that of the Municipal Building 
in New York City, which penetrates the earth to a depth of four 
hundred feet. 

Perhaps, when you know of a man holding a position of 
great responsibility, handling large sums of money belonging to 
others, you wonder how he can resist the temptation to reserve 
a part of it for his own use. It's because his character rests 
upon the foundation of Christian manliness and honor, going 
deep down into his very soul of love for Christ, his Master. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 33 



FLIES DRAW COLOR-LINE. 

"It has been found that flies have a great objection to the 
color blue," says a French paper. It states that a farmer who 
heard of the discovery gave the inside of his sheds a coat of 
bluewash in place of the customary whitewash, and that his 170 
cows housed therein were no longer troubled with flies. 

When we ascertain what the pests of sin do not like, we 
should do that very thing. We can not afford to be "off color" 
in matters of right and wrong. 

NOVEL WALKING-STICK 

A British sailor made a cane by wrapping love letters around 
a steel spike. While they had the appearance of being combined 
so as to make a strong walking-stick, the real strength was in 
the iron within. 

We look in vain for the strong points in the make-up of any 
character if we fail to take into account the heart of the indi- 
vidual. His real strength is within. It shows by what he is 
able to do and not by what he may appear to be. 

THE USE OF THE EYES. 

Custom-house officers are usually good judges of character, 
because of their wide experience in meeting all classes of people. 
An instance of this was revealed in New York when a passenger 
from Europe denied the possession of any dutiable goods. Not 
satisfied with his statement, the officers searched him and found 
diamonds on his person valued at $15,000. 

The human face can seldom conceal the feelings of the heart. 
"We see the world through our eyes — the world sees us in the 
same way." 

WHAT THE SIGN MEANT. 

When I entered the great Edison factories at Orange, New 
Jersey, I was struck by an order posted on every wall, forbidding 
the smoking of cigarettes within the plant, by either visitors or 



34 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



workmen. I asked if it was because of a fear of fire. "No! 
The fear of lunacy!" was the caustic answer. "We haven't any 
use for men without brains. You won't find any cigarette- 
smokers around here. When a man uses the things, his brain 
runs down. You can't give us any fine theories about it — we 
know!" That is a terrific answer to the cigarette-smoker from 
the greatest brain in the world. — H. J. O'Brien. 

A PATCHED-UP MAN. 

Several years ago a New York man was seriously injured in 
an explosion. The doctors patched him up, and, by the use of 
a cork leg, a cork arm, a rubber ear, glass eye and wig, he 
looked as much like a man as before the accident. In 1914 he 
sailed for Holland to marry a Dutch girl, and one paper, in 
relating the incident, referred to him as "the most artificial man 
in the world." 

Yet he may be "more of a man" than many who have a per- 
fect physique, and are artificial in conduct and manners. The 
real man is in the heart, mind, soul, and not in the flesh, the 
bone, the blood. 

SOLDIERS GUARD A MILLION. 

When a shipment of $1,000,000 in gold was being made from 
the United States sub-treasury in San Francisco to the Philip- 
pines, it was guarded by twenty-five soldiers while being hauled 
through the streets to the transport dock. 

It is apparent to any observer that wherever great sums of 
money or money values are exposed to danger from robbers, 
more care and expense are taken than where boys and girls are 
exposed to the dangers of the streets, where tempters would rob 
them of their virtue. It should be the reverse. 

"He who steals my purse steals trash ; but he that filches from 
tne my good name, robs me of that which enriches not him, but 
makes me poor indeed." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 35 



SLOW STARTS AND QUICK STOPS. 

It takes a powerful locomotive, drawing a train of ten pas- 
senger-cars, a distance of five miles to reach a speed of sixty- 
miles an hour on a straight and level track. The air-brakes will 
stop the same train from a speed of sixty miles an hour in seven 
hundred feet. So states a widely read paper. 

Indiscretion is a brake that has brought many promising men 
to a sudden stop. They may have spent five, ten or more years 
getting under good headway, and then by one act have thrown 
on the brakes that suddenly checked their career of respect and 
usefulness. 

CRUEL IMPRISONMENT. 

In order that they might come into possession of $150 a year 
annuity left a woman dwarf by her father at Olivet, France, her 
stepmother and half-brother made her a prisoner in a barn for 
twenty years before the police discovered and released her. 

Small and pinched as was the dwarf, by nature and by the 
cruel treatment accorded her, she was no doubt a giant in char- 
acter compared to those who could be so small as to imprison 
the unfortunate little creature under any pretext whatever. We 
should ever bear in mind that it is not physical stature that 
counts in God's sight, but heart-power and soul-growth. 

MENACE TO CANADIAN FARMERS. 

Herds of wild horses in northern Canada raid the ranches of 
settlers and stampede domestic horses, leading away into the 
wilderness numbers of high-bred animals. So serious did this 
condition become that the Minister of Agriculture for the Prov- 
ince of Alberta applied to the Dominion Government for aid in 
stopping the depredations. 

We approve of such action, of course, but it is sad to reflect 
that many fathers seem more thoughtful in regard to the pro- 
tection of their blooded horses or other animals than in the 



36 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



protection of their sons and daughters from the dangers on the 
streets of our towns and cities. 

HAD MONEY IN BANKS. 

While the body of a humble piano-tuner was being prepared 
foi burial at Kokomo, Indiana, the undertaker found in the 
pockets of the dead man certificates of deposit in different banks 
in the State, amounting to over $12,000, besides $385 in cash. 

There may be some one in your neighborhood, living in 
humble circumstances, whom the world does not rate as a per- 
son of much worth, and yet, when he passes away, the men, 
women and children who knew him best will come forth with 
tender words of commendation for his many little, kind, helpful 
acts, which will be as certificates of deposit in their memories. 

ODD CASE OF SURGERY. 

Because he was born with a split palate and could not talk 
without singing, a boy in New York City underwent the painful 
ordeal of having his palate sewed together. Before the opera- 
tion his voice often sounded so musical that strangers stopped 
to listen, at times greatly embarrassing him. 

This suggests the question: Wouldn't it be well for each 
person to examine his tongue to ascertain if it is in any way 
attracting undue attention — if our words are too harsh, stern, 
peevish or faultfinding — and, if so, to promptly set about remedy- 
ing the annoyance by resolving to permit the tongue to speak 
only in kind, tender, helpful tones. There is character in the 
voice. 

HOW MARBLES ARE MADE. 

The Chicago Herald says marbles are made in large quanti- 
ties in Saxony, from a hard, calcareous stone, which is broken 
into square blocks. These are thrown into a mill, in which is a 
flat slab of stone with numerous concentric furrows on its face. 
A block of oak of the same diameter is made to revolve on the 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 37 



slab, while water flows upon it One mill turns out twenty thou- 
sand marbles a week. 

"As marbles are made by getting the rough corners rubbed 
off, so boys are made in much the same way," comments the New 
York Observer. "Poverty, adversity, hard times and hard fare 
all have their place in rounding out men and fitting them for 
usefulness here and for glory hereafter." 

A POOR EXCHANGE. 

The owner of some fine fowls in Smyrna, Delaware, accord- 
ing to the papers, found a purse in his chicken-house containing 
$90, after discovering that a number of hens had been stolen 
during the night. It was supposed the thief accidentally dropped 
the money, his loss being far more than the value of the few 
biddies he appropriated. 

In seeking pleasure in questionable places, tens of thousands 
of young men have lost something many times more valuable 
than the supposed pleasures they have obtained. Nothing that 
may come into one's life can compare in joy-producing value 
with a good character and a clear conscience. 

THE STRAIGHT LINE. 

One of the big railroad corporations expended several million 
dollars in making a short cut across the Great Salt Lake, and 
counted the money well spent. Others have used millions in 
tunneling mountains for the same purpose. The one thing of 
great importance with railroad builders is to get the track as 
straight as possible. They know it pays. 

The young man who determines to follow a straight course 
of conduct regardless of what others may think or say, will find 
himself in demand, while those who are willing to turn aside 
from the path of truth and honor, be it ever so little, will later 
discover they have made a serious mistake. The straight line 
pays. 



38 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



WHERE HIGH BUILDINGS STAND. 

Commenting upon the sky-scrapers of American cities, and 
the comparatively small amount of land in its greatest centers 
of population, a British paper says: "Indeed, land is now so 
expensive in New York that it would not pay to put up any 
ordinary edifice." 

Of more value than any land is the soul of man, and we have 
so little time here for its development. Every moment is golden 
with opportunities for character-building. The foundation upon 
which we build — the sacrifice of Christ our Saviour — costs far 
too much for us to be satisfied with a cheap structure. We should 
build high, reaching by faith into the pure blue of heaven. 

WHERE FREAKS ARE SCARCE. 

Rev. Francis E. Clark, founder of the Christian Endeavor 
movement, says : "I am more or less acquainted with ten thou- 
sand young men and women belonging to Christian Endeavor 
societies throughout the world, and can say with all positiveness 
that the proportion of freaks and 'mollycoddles' whom I know 
among these young men is less than in any other walk of life. 
You will find more in the college classes, in business circles and 
in the professions, in proportion, than among the active workers 
in the churches. One reason is that it requires courage and devo- 
tion to the right to take the stand, and only those who have 
moral stamina as well as intellectual strength are likely to prove 
equal to the test." 

SURPRISED INDIANS. 

A band of Apaches once captured the safe of the army pay- 
master in the West, which contained $7,000 in greenbacks. It 
weighed four hundred pounds and worked with a combination. 
The red men knew nothing of this, and sought to open it by 
force — pounded off the knob with stones, struck the safe with 
their tomahawks, roasted it in fire, threw boulders at it, hurled 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 39 



it down a precipice and finally threw it into a river. Having 
endeavored for a month to get at its contents, without success, 
they gave up in disgust. Over a year later, when peace was 
restored, Government officials recovered the safe. While the 
exterior showed the rough treatment it had received, when 
opened the money was found secure, as if nothing had hap- 
pened. 

The heart given to God is secure from every assault. 
POWER OF A THOUGHT. 

It is important to think straight It was once said of a cer- 
tain politician that "if you should drive a piece of wire through 
his head from front to back, it would come out in the shape of 
a corkscrew," because he had become so crooked in his thinking. 
"The thoughts of to-day become the dreams of to-night, the 
actions of to-morrow and the character of the future." 

Newton H. Riddell says, in one of his books : "In talking 
with many convicts who had nothing to conceal, I have learned 
that crime often begins with an evil suggestion; the suggestion 
repeated finally becomes embodied in nerve cells, which form the 
physical basis of crime. Thus, what at first is only an evil 
thought or desire, by being entertained and persisted in, becomes 
an integral part of the man, a controlling factor in life and 
conduct." 

MOTHER OF A TON OF CHILDREN. 

Perhaps you have seen reports of families having twenty, 
twenty-five or thirty children. A woman in Washington made 
the claim that she was the mother of one of the largest families 
in the Northwest, although she had only ten children. Upon 
investigation, it was found that in one way she was correct, as 
the total weight of the ten was over a ton — 2,085 pounds. One, 
a son of twenty, weighed 295 pounds, and three others weighed 
about 245 pounds each. 



40 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



The best grounds for pride upon the part of parents is not 
in the number or the size of the children they raise, but the kind. 
One son or daughter whose every influence in life is ennobling 
and uplifting is far more creditable to father and mother than 
ten or fifteen children who live on a low, selfish plane. 

THE WHISTLE OF THE BLIND. 

It is said there are so many blind people in Japan that if 
they should employ a child or a dog to lead them, there would 
be numerous collisions in the narrow streets, hence each carries 
a whistle, which they blow as they pass along. The frequent 
sound of the "blind whistle" is a constant reminder of the afflic- 
tion of a large number of persons there. The people who hear 
it separate and make room for them. 

In every large city are evidences of other kinds of blindness. 
Every clinking sound floating out through the swinging saloon- 
door ; every oath from the lips of men and women ; every laugh 
at an unclean story; every cry of the newsboys telling of some 
crime committed — these, and other sounds of the city streets, are 
signals indicating the presence of the morally and spiritually 
blind. 

DESK OF MANY WOODS. 

Covering a period of over thirty years, an Indiana man 
gathered 250 different kinds of wood from many lands, from 
which he made a remarkable desk, in mosaics, containing over 
fifty thousand pieces. He secured the wood by travel and 
through friends. In speaking of his achievement, he said: "I 
did not realize the pleasure it would give me until I was well 
along with the work." 

Thus it is with the building of a strong character. It is not 
made in a day, a month or a year. The material comes from 
many sources — bits of influence from here and there. It is for 
us to use and shape them into a beautiful, harmonious whole. 
Like the builder of the wonderful desk, many do not realize 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 41 



the great pleasure of the undertaking until well along with the 
work, when the joy of it becomes simply fascinating. 

HIS TRAINER'S ADVICE. 

George Horine, a student at Stanford University, who broke 
the world's record for a high jump in 1912, had made a good 
jump that day, and, being in splendid condition, decided to try 
for the championship. He was about to have the pole placed a 
couple of inches higher than his first effort, when his veteran 
trainer, "Dad" Moulton, said: "Don't do that, George. Put the 
bar six feet six inches, and go after it right away. Don't tire 
yourself out jumping up to it." 

George followed the advice, and cleared the bar, with two 
inches to spare, breaking the world's record of six feet five and 
five-eighths inches, made by M. F. Sweeney at Manhattan Field, 
New York, in 1895. 

Moulton's advice is good for every one. Whatever you wish 
to accomplish in life, go after it. Don't wear yourself out "jump- 
ing up to it." Above everything else does his advice apply to 
character-building. Don't try to "work up to it" by gradually 
putting away objectionable habits. Make the short cut. Right 
now set the standard for your conduct. Let each effort be your 
best — and you will win. 

POLICE THROW WEAPONS AWAY. 

Twice a year the police of New York City dispose of the 
weapons found on criminals by the simple process of taking the 
murderous tools down the harbor in a boat, then casting them 
into the deep water. At one such housecleaning, weapons valued 
at $5,000 were thrown overboard, including more than a thou- 
sand revolvers, besides a number of shotguns and rifles, several 
hundred dirks and stilettos and a lot of burglars' tools. 

Be your own policeman. Not twice a year, once a month or 
each week, but every day, throw away the worse than useless 



42 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



things you find crowding themselves upon you. In doing this, 
however, you need some weapons. Gird your loins with truth. 
Put on the breastplate of righteousness. See that your feet are 
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Take up the 
shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and "the sword of the 
Spirit, which is the word of God." 

SUES FOR SEVEN CENTS. 

With a suit of $5,000,000 pending against a railway corpora- 
tion, a Chicago man found time to also bring suit against a news- 
boy for seven cents, claiming that, while the lad had agreed to 
deliver papers to him every morning at seventy cents a month, 
he had missed one of the Sunday issues. "And, besides," said 
the man of big affairs, "there were only twenty-eight days in 
February, and you owe me seven cents." The boy refused to 
remit, and the suit was the result. 

The real character of persons possessing an abundance is not 
seen so much in the way they handle large affairs as in the man- 
ner they treat the poor and helpless. 

"If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent per- 
verting of judgment and justice in a province," we read in the 
fifth chapter of Ecclesiastes, "marvel not at the matter; for he 
that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher 
than they." 

THE BEST SECURITY. 

"Mister, do you loan money here?" asked a twelve-year-old 
boy at an attorney's office, says a St. Louis paper. "Sometimes 
we do — on good security," replied the lawyer as he confronted 
a clear-eyed but poorly dressed lad. The little fellow explained 
that he had a chance to "buy out a boy that's sellin' papers," but 
had only part enough money, and needed fifteen cents more. 
"What security can you offer ?" asked the man. The boy's brown 
hand brought from a pocket a paper, carefully folded in a piece 
of calico. It was a pledge against the use of intoxicating liquor 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 43 



and tobacco. As respectfully as if it had been a deed to a farm, 
the lawyer examined it, accepted it and handed over the required 
sum. To a friend who had watched the transaction and laughed 
as the young borrower departed, the attorney said earnestly: 
'The one who keeps himself from such things has character. 
to offer as security." 

THE CONQUEROR. 

Two boys were in a schoolroom together and exploded some 
fireworks. One denied it. The other, Ben Christie, would say 
nothing, and was severely flogged for his obstinacy. When they 
were alone again, the real offender asked: "Why didn't you 
deny it?" 

"Because you said you didn't, and one of us must have lied." 

The other's heart melted. Ben's moral gallantry subdued him. 
When school reassembled he marched to the teacher's desk and 
said: "Please, sir, I can't bear to be a liar. I let off the squib." 
And he burst into tears. The master's eyes glistened, and the 
undeserved punishment he had inflicted on the innocent boy 
smote his conscience. Hand in hand with the guilty one, as if 
they were both joined in the confession, he walked to where 
young Christie sat, and said aloud : "Ben, lad, he and I beg your 
pardon. We are both to blame." 

The school was hushed and still for an instant, for an act 
true and noble had been done. Then the loud shout of the 
scholars filled the teacher's eyes with something behind his spec- 
tacles which made him wipe them before he sat down again. — 
Sunday School Advocate. 

TRIBUTE OF A FATHER. 

One of the most remarkable tributes of modern times is that 
paid by Chas. G. Dawes to the character of his son, Rufus 
Fearing Dawes, who was drowned in Lake Geneva. The father 
was formerly Comptroller of the Currency under President 



44 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



Cleveland, and later president of the Central Trust Company of 
Illinois. 

The tribute which he wrote was read by the officiating min- 
ister at the young man's funeral, and afterwards published in 
booklet form. Although Rufus Dawes was preparing for a busi- 
ness career, he early in life took great interest in Christian and 
philanthropic work, of his own accord accepting Christ as his 
Leader and Saviour. While in college he also took keen interest 
in athletics and social affairs, but never lost sight of the high 
ideals which actuated him in every move. He had but one stand- 
ard of measurement for himself or any one else — the standard 
of right. The father says of him: 

"I have taken him with me among the greatest in the nation, 
and looked in vain for any evidence in him of awe or even 
curiosity. He has taken me, asking me to help them, among the 
poor and lowly of earth. . . . He did not smoke, nor swear, nor 
drink. He was absolutely clean. I never saw him angry. In 
twenty-one years he never gave me just cause for serious 
reproach. He was absolutely natural in any environment, great 
or humble. He was extremely ambitious. He was extremely 
proud. Upon one occasion, years ago, when I mistakenly 
reproached him, he patiently explained my error, and then per- 
emptorily demanded and received an apology from me. . . . My 
boy lived long enough to 'win out.' Whatever the years would 
have added would be only material. In a man's character is his 
real career." 

So great was Mr. Dawes' appreciation of his son and of his 
ideals that he erected a $100,000 hotel in Chicago, known as the 
"Rufus F. Dawes Hotel," for the worthy unemployed — the men 
ill search of work. Here they find a welcome. For a few cents 
they may have food, room, bath and bed. The hotel was opened 
on New Year's Day, 1914, and was soon filled to its full capacity. 

Thus the wonderful character of the young man who "lived 
in deeds, not years," is a memorial far more commendable than 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 45 



the finest shaft of marble — a memorial that shall last long after 
the hotel and monuments have crumbled with the decay of the 
centuries. 

LOST LIFE IN SAVING OTHERS. 

Will McLaughlin, aged eighteen, a student of Ohio Wesleyan 
University, was visiting in Chicago at the time of the terrible 
Iroquois Theater disaster, December 30, 1903, when six hundred 
persons lost their lives. He was near the scene when the cry of 
"Fire ! Fire !" rang out. He hastened to the fire-escape of the 
third story, and alone saved the lives of seventeen women and 
children by passing them out over a plank to an adjoining build- 
ing. He worked until he himself fell under a pile of dead bodies 
that came tumbling down the steel stairway from above. When 
taken to a hospital, he raised his burned and blistered hand to 
one of the physicians, saying: "I'm going to die, doctor, and I'm 
prepared. Give your attention to the women and children." 
After lingering twenty-eight hours, he passed away with these 
words of victory on his lips — which, by the way, were later 
burned in the plank over which he passed those he had rescued: 
"J knew I was following Christ, and I could not do otherwise." 

His name was added, also the date of the fire, the whole sur- 
rounded by scroll work. This plank — about three feet long, a 
foot wide and two inches thick — was sent to his parents as a 
memory-treasure to be prized through the lonely years. Their 
son was an earnest Christian, active in all religious work of the 
university, president of his class, prominent in athletics and a 
cadet in the military battalion of the school. 

His uncle, the eminent Dr. Gunsaulus, who had an appoint- 
ment to preach in the Iroquois Theater the day following the 
tragedy, and who was with Will McLaughlin when he died, 
wrote to the boy's father : "If my own son had perished and writ- 
ten his name so incontestably among those of the soldier band 
of Jesus Christ, I would have been proud and thankful." 



46 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



Rev. Francis E. Clark, in drawing lessons from the remark- 
able incident, said: "No wonder that Dr. Hillis, Bishop Fallows 
and President Bashford, and hundreds of pulpits and news- 
papers, eulogized him. He did not ask for these eulogies, nor 
pose as a hero. He had only done his duty; 'any other would 
have done the same/ he declared, for the true hero is always 
modest. But he had his chance, and he improved it." 

CHEERFULNESS. 

IT NEVER WEARS OUT. 

"Sing a song of laughter, a pocket full of smiles, 
Is what the world is after — beats all the wiles. 
Life's too short for grumpiness; spend your little while 
Looking for the beautiful — wearing of the smile." 

NO PLACE FOR DESPONDENCY. 

It is said that during the siege of Ladysmith a soldier was 
sentenced by court-martial to a year's imprisonment for causing 
despondency. He had been talking discouragingly to the pickets 
and other soldiers. The critical situation demanded men full of 
hope and courage. Perhaps every one, at times, becomes 
despondent. The weakness is not in being possessed of such a 
feeling occasionally, but in giving up to it and spreading dis- 
couragement among others. A fear bravely met is already more 
than half overcome. 

ORDERED TO SMILE. 

The mayor of Salem, Massachusetts, called the police of that 
city together and informed them that they must be more 
courteous; that when two of them meet they must salute each 
other and smile. This strikes one as comical. But one would 
better smile to order than not at all. A sour visage is a public 
calamity, especially when large numbers of persons are obliged 
to look at it. For a railroad conductor, a station gateman, a 
policeman or an elevator man to wear a forbidding countenance 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 47 



is almost a sin. His face amounts to assault and battery on the 
feelings of all spectators. — Caleb Cobweb, in Christian Endeavor 
World. 

MUSIC "EN ROUTE." 

In the Middle West, a wholesale firm sent out two repre- 
sentatives on an automobile trip of twenty thousand miles to 
advertise its goods. The machine was provided with ten pipes, 
called the "Gabriel chimes," upon which could be played any 
tune. One of the men "talked up the goods," while the other 
furnished musical selections en route, and where stops were 
made. 

In the days when all sorts of odd sounds were used by auto- 
mobilists as warning signals, a machine in one of the great 
Western cities was equipped with an attachment upon which the 
chauffeur played, "Nearer, My God, to Thee," as he sped along 
the thoroughfares. Pedestrians were seldom in too much of a 
hurry to stop, gaze and eagerly listen until the sacred melody 
died out in the distance. 

"Sing some happy song" as you pass along life's pathway. It 
will not only brighten your own journey, but will surely "make 
some other heart rejoice" as well. 

RAISING SUNFLOWERS. 

A Missouri farmer raised nearly one hundred acres of sun- 
flowers on land where other crops would not thrive, and cleared 
about $40 an acre. This so encouraged him that he decided to 
put in a thousand acres the following season. Imagine the 
beauty of a hundred, or a thousand, acres of the bright, blossom- 
ing, smiling, tossing flowers, each one a miniature picture of the 
great sun in the heavens. 

We should never consider any one around us as "useless." 
Let's sow the seeds of kindness "all along the way." Like the 
Missouri farmer, we will be agreeably surprised. In place of 
apparently worthless lives will be happiness, joy, sunshine, all 
4 



48 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



reflecting upon the sower, thus also adding to his own enjoy- 
ment of life. 

BETTER THAN A DOCTOR. 

An Oakland paper tells of an aged patient, Mrs. Anne 
McCann, who is known as the philosopher of the county infirm- 
ary. She has been there several years, and moves about slowly 
on crutches. "The remarkable thing about her is her smile, for 
it stays, no matter how ill she may be or how intense her suffer- 
ing. 'Of course age is hard on teeth/ she says. The few I have, 
though, meet all right, so I'm not worrying about that. No, it 
doesn't make you feel any better to smile when you're sick, but 
think how much better people will think you feel. Fool them, 
even if you can't fool yourself, for they'll feel better then.' " 
One of the doctors there says: "She does some of the patients 
more good than I can, for she makes them smile. Optimism 
is sometimes the best prescription we can administer." 

The optimism of Paul under most trying circumstances has 
given courage to many thousands of the followers of Christ, for 
it was the great apostle who said: "I take pleasure in infirmities, 
in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for 
Christ's sake." 

STRENGTH WITHIN. 

The "rain-tree" of Colombia absorbs large quantities of 
moisture from the atmosphere, which it concentrates and sends 
forth from its leaves and branches in such abundance that the 
ground beneath is frequently drenched as with a refreshing rain. 
It possesses this peculiar property to its greatest degree in the 
summer, thus preserving its strength and freshness when water 
is the most scarce. 

It is refreshing to meet those rare souls who, in spite of 
"hard times" and unfavorable circumstances, extract comfort and 
joy from nearly everything around them. This not only pre- 
serves their own strength, but begets in others a spirit of good 
cheer. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 49 



CHILDHOOD. 

FUTURE CITIZENS. 

God bless the little children, wherever they may be — 

Far away in the country, down by the sounding sea. 

Like flowers in the crowded city, like birds in the forest free; 

God bless the little children, wherever they may be. 

God bless the little children, for yet we do not see 
What good men, what great men, these little ones may be — 
What preachers and what poets, what men of noble mind; 
What true and loving women, what wives and mothers kind. 

— Selected. 

/ SHAPING CHARACTER. 

I found a bit of plastic clay, 
And idly fashioned it one day, 
And as my fingers pressed it still, 
It moved and yielded to my will. 

I came again when days had passed, 
The bit of clay was hard at last. 
The form I gave it still it bore, 
But I could change that form no more. 

I took a piece of living clay, 
And gently formed it day by day, 
And molded with my power and art 
A young child's soft and yielding heart. 

I came again when years were gone — 
It was a man I looked upon. 
He still that early impress wore, 
And I could change him nevermore. 

— Unknown. 

BABY CAUSES REPENTANCE. 

An incident, showing the power of the touch of baby fingers 
over a hard-hearted husband, is told by Ida M. Tarbell in the 
American Magazine, being one of many in the Court of Domestic 
Relations in Chicago : 

"Nine times out of ten, Judge Goodnow declares, you can 
arouse a man to remorse or effort by his child. 'Take that baby ; 
it is too heavy for the mother,' he said suddenly one day to a big, 
ugly, red-haired driver who had been brought in for non-support, 



50 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



and who stood before the bar unmoved by the story of his wife 
and the reproaches of the judge. The man turned, and the little 
one, crowing and kicking with delight to be noticed by him, 
stretched out its arms. It cuddled up to the man, patting his 
face and cooing with joy. He broke down in a moment, and, 
every trace of bravado gone, burst out: 'For God's sake, Judge, 
let me go back to my babies ! I swear I'll do the square thing !' 
And, so far as the record of the court goes, he has kept his 
word." 

MILLIONAIRE'S GREAT WORK. 

One day in 1869 a ten-year-old boy saw his widowed mother, 
who had eight children to support, bending over a wash-tub, 
with tears dropping from her cheeks into the hot suds. "Never 
you mind, mamma," said he, tenderly, "when I get a big man and 
rich, I'll take care of all the orphans, and the widows too." 

That boy became the millionaire oil king, Charles Page, owner 
of seven thousand acres of land seven miles from Tulsa, Okla- 
homa. Although his mother died years before his wealth came 
to him, he did not forget his promise to her. One of his first 
moves was to make eighty acres of his forest land, on the banks 
of the Arkansas River, into one of the most complete parks and 
playgrounds in America, with an interurban railroad owned by 
him connecting it with Tulsa, and free transportation to and 
from the park for all the children who cared to go, any day in 
the week. He also built an orphanage for seventy children 
adopted by him, his whole plan being the erection of homes for 
one thousand orphans, and one hundred homes for as many 
widows; also a magnificent hospital for the free treatment of the 
poor from any part of the country, including railroad fare, if 
necessary. He has the work so abundantly endowed that it will 
never lack for funds. Thus the tears of his mother, precious to 
him as a boy, resulted in establishing one of the most far-reach- 
ing systems of charity the world has ever known. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 51 



CONSISTENCY. 

MISSED THE LECTURE. 

"Why weren't you at the club meeting to-day?" inquired one 
woman of another. "We had a most instructive lecture on the 
training of children." 

"Because," replied Mrs. Hadley, the mother of seven boys 
and girls, "I was at home doing it." 

"ONLY THE CHILDREN." 

In too many homes the following story from Zion's Advocate 
might strike so near the truth as to hurt : 

Policeman — Do you have to take care of the dog? 

New Girl — No. The missus says I'm too young and inex- 
perienced. I only look after the children. 

WHY HE COULDN'T. 

Some persons who desire certain questionable results insist 
that others must take the position of greatest blame. "I am 
shocked," said a mother to her boy, according to a Chicago paper, 
"that Willie Smith whipped the poor cat. You wouldn't do such 
a thing, I know. Why didn't you stop him?" 

"I couldn't, ma. I was holding the cat." 

IN A POSITION TO WARN. 

After making over half a million dollars in the wholesale 
liquor business, a Pittsburgh man stipulated in his will that no 
idle, intemperate, wayward or vicious child should become a 
beneficiary. He also directed that any beneficiary engaging in 
the liquor trade should forfeit all claims or rights to his estate. 

He evidently knew the evils of the business as but few on the 
outside could know, hence was in a position to realize the impor- 
tance of keeping clear of it. We do well to heed the warnings 
of those who tell of the dangers of that with which they have 
had most to do. 



52 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



TWO INTERPRETATIONS. 



While the minister meant well, his remark was subject to two 
interpretations when he said, in preaching a funeral sermon : 

"Dear friends, the corpse here before us was a member of 
this church for over twenty years." 

Many churches know what it is to have a lot of dead material 
on the membership roll. 



"Live up to what you profess to be," is good advice. "Be a 
good representative of your own business," is also worth heed- 
ing. Two boys were quarreling, when Frank spoke to Horace 
rather contemptuously: 

"You, wearing old, sloppy shoes, and your father a shoemaker 
too I" 

"That's nothing," retorted the other, "your pop's a dentist, 
and your little baby brother's only got one tooth !" 



One who sins only a very little may be much more dangerous 
to others than one who sins a great deal. A little tolerated sin 
in the apostle Paul would have been a greater menace to the 
church and the world than was the gross sin of Judas Iscariot. 
A clock that is live minutes out of the way is a much more mis- 
leading timepiece than a clock that is rive hours wrong. — Sunday 
School Times. 



In one of the sky-scrapers of New York is a "central" office 
for keeping "tab" on the location of the many elevators used. 
In this room is an indicator in the shape of the building itself, 
and as the elevators pass up or down, little glow-lamps respond 
to the movement, showing the exact position of each. By means 
of telephone connection with every elevator it is possible to 



THEIR LITTLE QUARREL. 



SATAN'S BEST AGENTS. 




REMARKABLE INDICATOR. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 53 



promptly ascertain the cause of any delay. Should a tricky oper- 
ator answer that he was with his elevator on the twenty-third 
floor, helping to get a blind cripple into the cage, while his glow- 
light showed he was at the forty-fifth, where a pretty stenog- 
rapher was in the habit of coming out to chat with him between 
dictations, his deception would be promptly discovered. 

It is useless to expect people to judge us by what we say 
unless the light of our conduct corresponds with our words. 

LOOKING STRAIGHT AHEAD. 

Referring to the fact that in some portraits the eyes alwa>_ 
appear to be looking at you, a writer in a London publication 
says : "To produce such an effect, the eyes of the person repre- 
sented must be looking directly to the front, and not towards 
one side. In such instances the pupil of each eye is necessarily 
in the middle. Obviously this relation does not vary at all with 
the position assumed by the observer." 

You can usually rely upon the person who looks you in the 
eye. Figuratively speaking, he is "looking straight ahead." He 
is the same to everybody, regardless of the point of vision from 
which they may behold him. 

CONSCIENCE. 

SAFE IN TIME OF STORM. 

Because of the efficiency of the United States Weather 
Bureau, in just one instance, vessels valued, with their cargoes, 
at more than $30,000,000 have been kept safe in port until a ter- 
rific hurricane had spent its force. The warning issued of a 
single cold wave is said to have saved over $3,000,000 worth of 
fruits and farm products. 

When conscience warns us of the impending storms of pas- 
sion, jealousy, temper or appetite, we should remain safe in the 
port of "Firm Resolve for the Right." 



54 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



WANTED TO BE SURE. 

"How will I know when I'm naughty?" a little girl asked, 
after receiving quite a lecture. 

"Why, my dear/' said the mother, "your conscience will tell 
you." 

Margaret thought a moment, then said: "That's all right; but 
it won't tell you, will it?" — Lippincott's Magazine. 

THE BEST PRIZE POSSIBLE. 

The Y. M. C. A. boys from many Associations who partici- 
pated in the great relay race in July, 1908, carried the following 
significant message from one mayor to another: "To the city of 
Chicago the city of New York sends greeting by the fleet runners 
of the Young Men's Christian Association. This message is 
borne on foot without a halt from the Atlantic to Lake Mich- 
igan, and the hundreds of boys who carry it gain no prize except 
the consciousness of having done their best." 

A WATCH FOR THE DARK. 

Swiss watchmakers have devised a phosphorescent prepara- 
tion for dials, by means of which the faces of watches are 
illuminated in darkness, and become visible at the ordinary dis- 
tance. Every few days, however, the watch must be exposed to 
sunlight, or the phosphorescence fails and the time can no longer 
be ascertained. So conscience is an illuminated dial to be 
eagerly scanned in dark and perplexing days; but it gives clear 
and true direction only while it is often shone upon by the light 
of heaven. — Education of the Heart. 

WHY HE DIDN'T WORRY. 

During the Civil War a young man was arrested on suspicion 
of being a spy. In vain he calmly protested his innocence. At 
the hearing of his case the men who had taken him in charge 
were astonished to find that he was not only a loyal soldier, but 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 55 



a personal friend of the superior officer before whom he was 
tried. When asked later if he was not alarmed after his arrest, 
the young man replied : "No, for I knew I was innocent, and that 
my friend would not allow any harm to come to me." 

HIS BRIGHTEST JEWEL. 

After winning certain victories for the Crown, Marlborough, 
a distinguished general of early English days, was offered a lot 
of medals, studded with diamonds, which he declined, saying: 

"What I accomplished, it was my duty to do. Had I failed, 
it would not have been through any lack of loyalty in my heart 
to England. Jewels can add nothing to my reputation. I appre- 
ciate their being tendered, but the best jewel I can wear is the 
consciousness within my own heart that I tried to do my best." 

SIX DAYS FOR LABOR. 

When the directors of one of the great railroad corporations 
met one Sunday morning in a hotel in Chicago, and sent word 
to Mr. Charles G. Hammond, the superintendent of the road, 
that his presence was required, he sent back word by their mes- 
senger: "Six days in the week I serve the Chicago, Burlington 
& Quincy Railroad Company, but the seventh is the Sabbath of 
the Lord my God, and on that day I serve him only." Instead 
of discharging him, the directors were sensible enough to see 
that in Mr. Hammond they had a man who was simply inval- 
uable. — Sunday School Journal. 

SHIP SAVED BY AN ECHO. 

The echo of the fog-horn on the British steamship "Isle of 
Mull," which had been sounded shortly after midnight on New- 
foundland Banks, once saved the vessel from collision with an 
iceberg, which had caused the echo. When the captain heard 
it, he immediately stopped his ship, and soon discovered his dan- 
gerous position. He quickly headed southward and to safety. 

The echo of conscience coming back from the icebergs of 



56 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



sin, toward which the mind sometimes goes out, should always 
call a halt, and a steerage in the direction of safety. 

STEEPLE APPEARS TWISTED. 

"In Chesterfield, England," a magazine states, "is a church 
with a spire which, from any point of view, appears to be dan- 
gerously crooked. A spiral construction was adopted, and this 
makes it appear bent. In reality it is plumb." 

Those in a position to know never think of calling the spire 
crooked. If we are ever placed where circumstances appear to 
be against us, and people who don't know suspect us of wrong 
— of being "crooked" — let's remember there is One who knows. 
"The Lord seeth not as man seeth," we read in 1 Sam. 16 : 7, 
"for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord look- 
eth on the heart." 

PROTECTING AN OIL WELL. 

During the days of internal strife in Mexico, a solid concrete 
cap, fifteen feet square and extending about the same distance 
above and below the surface of the ground, was built over a 
highly productive Mexican oil well, on the top of which was 
mounted a cross. Because of the deep reverence the Mexicans 
have for objects associated with religion, this was considered as 
affording better protection than the physical strength of the 
great concrete cap. 

If properly appealed to, the religious conscience of man will 
almost invariably prove more effectual in restraint of evil than 
any physical force that might be used. When you touch the 
heart you touch the mainspring of right conduct. 

REMARKABLE VINDICATION. 

We do wrong to suspect any one of an act not clearly proven, 
it matters not how strong the circumstantial evidence may 
appear. Hundreds of instances have come to light in prisons 
where the innocent have been punished for the crimes of others. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 57 



After living thirty years under the suspicion of having robbed 
the post-office at Peoria, Illinois, of a registered package con- 
taining $3,500, a well-known minister was vindicated in a peculiar 
manner. In the repair-shop of the San Francisco post-office an 
old mail-pouch was brought forth to be fixed. Down in the 
bottom, under a piece of patchwork, was the package with the 
$3,500 totally undisturbed. All those years the minister had pro- 
tested his innocence. Vindication was slow, but it came at last. 

NOT A FLAW WAS FOUND. 

Washington's work as surveyor in the Virginia wilderness 
for Lord Fairfax, in 1751, was checked up in 1913 by Govern- 
ment surveyors, preparatory to the purchase of lands in that 
territory for the Appalachian forest reserve. They found the 
lines perfect, and thus, after the lapse of more than a century 
and a half, it is shown that Washington, with the most primitive 
equipment, left landmarks and boundaries which the most expert 
modern surveyors have found absolutely correct. Truly he was 
a man who believed in doing his best. 

Whatever your occupation, resolve to do your work so well 
that coming generations may know you did your best; that your 
boundary-lines of conduct were absolutely true, and that the 
landmarks of your successes measured square with every prin- 
ciple of honor. 

GOD SEES THE HEART. 

Carl Cheney traveled one thousand miles to confess the theft 
and forgery of a post-office money-order, surrendering himself 
to the Federal authorities in Chicago, after traveling twenty 
thousand miles to escape the consequences of his act, committed 
a year before. His conscience gave him no peace during all that 
time. 

The defaulting treasurer of a New York county, who had 
stolen $260,000 of the people's money, kept his crime a secret 
for years, but it was finally revealed. After his arrest he 



58 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



remarked he had not been so happy for a long time, because of 
lifting the burden of a guilty conscience. 

"If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, 
and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, 
then we have confidence toward God," we read in 1 John 3 : 20, 21. 

BIG ROBBERY RECALLED. 

A secret-service man, writing for Bank Notes, says the great- 
est of all bank robberies was that of the National Bank at 
Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1876, where nearly $1,500,000 
was carried away at daybreak, and later buried in a coffin in 
Greenwood Cemetery in New York City. The men who com- 
mitted this robbery spent three years in planning it. Notwith- 
standing their great care and precaution, they were all finally 
captured and punished, except one who turned state's evidence. 
Practically all of the money was recovered, the whole deal 
requiring several years. The writer concludes his article thus: 
"Every bank robber I have ever known either died poor or in 
prison." 

The conscience of even hardened criminals has been the 
cause of many confessions of crime. "Shall not God search 
this out? For he knoweth the secrets of the heart," we read in 
Ps. 44:21. Again, in Luke 12:2: "For there is nothing covered 
that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known." 

SUCCESS WITH A STING. 

The chief of police of one of the largest cities in Ohio 
related that after he had arrested a prominent man for embez- 
zling large sums of money from people who trusted him, later 
making a confession, he asked him how he started on such a 
career. He replied that when appointed as first assistant cashier 
in a bank he was ambitious to be promoted, and continued : "The 
man who held the position above me was old, and had been 
with the institution a long time. One day he made an uninten- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 59 



tional blunder. It was clearly my duty to point out the mistake 
to him, but instead, in a sneaking way, I had the information 
conveyed to the officers and directors. Despite all his honest 
explanations, he lost his position, and I was appointed to take 
his place. At first I was supremely happy, but as the days 
passed, the face of the old cashier, his grief and unwarranted 
shame which had been inflicted upon him by me, impressed 
itself deeper and deeper upon my memory. Instead of doing 
all I could to make amends, I hardened my heart, and went from 
bad to worse. Since the day I ruined his life I have not known 
one moment of peace or happiness." 

CONVERSION. 

HIS PROUDEST NIGHT. 

An engineer who was converted at Grant's Pass, Oregon, 
while waiting at the depot for his train to depart, later came 
back into one of the cars at a junction and said to the evangelist 
who had urged him to take his stand for Christ: "I have drawn 
two Presidents over this road — Grant and Roosevelt — but this 
is the first time I have had Jesus Christ with me as a Saviour, 
and it is the proudest night of my life." — Adult Bible Class 
Monthly. 

PRESENT-DAY MIRACLES. 

Valentine Burke was a burglar and a thief for twenty years. 
His face was hardened and sin-blurred. He was converted 
while reading one of Mr. Moody's sermons when in prison. He 
prayed God to change his looks so he could get an honest job. 
His prayer was answered. Some time thereafter, when Moody 
was passing through St. Louis, he hunted up the man, and found 
him in the courthouse, the trusted guard over a bag of diamonds 
worth $60,000. Later he became an evangelist, and hundreds of 
hardened men were turned from lives of crime and shame. — 
Mrs. E. George. 



60 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



DEFYING THE TEMPTER. 

One of Mr. Moody's favorite stories was about a miser who 
had professed conversion. Soon after this a neighbor in dis- 
tress came to him for help. The miser decided to give him a 
ham, and while on his way to get it the tempter whispered, "Give 
him the smallest one." During the mental struggle that followed, 
the man took down the largest ham he had. "You are a fool," 
said the devil, whereupon the farmer replied with spirit, "If 
you don't keep still, I'll give him every ham in the smokehouse !" 

Thus he conquered the tempter, and knew that his conversion 
was not to be doubted. 

THE ILLUSION VANISHED. 

These wonderful words are from Professor Hegard, of the 
University of Copenhagen : "The experiences of life, its suffer- 
ings and grief, have shaken my soul and have broken the foun- 
dation upon which I formerly thought I could build. Full of 
faith in the sufficiency of science, I thought to have found in 
it a sure refuge from all the contingencies of life. This 
illusion is vanished. When the tempest came which plunged 
me in sorrow, the moorings, the cables of science, broke like 
thread. Then I seized upon that help which many before me 
have laid hold of. I sought and found peace in God. Since then 
I have certainly not abandoned science, but have assigned to it 
another place in my life." 

WHEN HE SURRENDERED. 

The conversion of Ex-Gov. Malcom R. Patterson, of Ten- 
nessee, in 1913, created nation-wide comment, and spread con- 
sternation in the ranks of the liquor men, whose friend he had 
been for years, in support of their business. In describing the 
spiritual change he had experienced, he said : 

"My life has had deep sorrows. I have seen the trail of 
liquor everywhere, dragging down many of the associates of 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 



61 



my boyhood, blasting their hopes and consigning them to 
untimely graves. I have seen its forked lightning strike my 
first-born, the child of my young manhood. I have felt its foul 
and stealthy blow as it turned upon me its deadly and shaming 
wrath — upon me who had pleaded before the people for its very 
existence. I needed help, for I was groping and my feet were 
stumbling in the dark. . . . When logic failed and reason gave 
no answer I cast aside all pride of opinion, all thought of what 
the world might say or think, and went to the throne of almighty 
God. There, on bended knee, I asked for light and strength, 
and they came. I arose a changed man. From a critic of others, 
I looked within. From a vague believer in the guidance of 
divine power, I have become a convert to its divine truth. From 
an unhappy and dissatisfied man, out of tune with the harmony 
of life and religion, I have become happy and content, firmly 
anchored in faith, and ready to testify from my own experience 
to the miraculous power of God to cleanse the souls of men." 

COURAGE. 

WHEN THE SOUL IS FREE. 

Samuel Rutherford, while in Aberdeen prison, used to write 
at the top of his letters, ''God's Palace, Aberdeen." When 
Madame Guyon was imprisoned in the castle at Vincennes she 
said: "It seems as if I were a little bird whom the Lord has 
placed in a cage, and that I have nothing now to do but sing." 
P. Anderson. 

WHY IT WAS PRIZED. 

The letter written by Gen. U. S. Grant to his father, in which 
he announced his determination to enlist in the Union Army at 
the breaking out of the Civil War, was sold in New York in 
January, 1914, for the sum of $910. 

Whether it be a written purpose or one orally expressed, the 



62 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



world values the decision of any one who determines to enlist 
in life's conflict of "the right against the wrong, for the weak 
against the strong." Numerous battles of this kind to-day call 
for courage equal to the facing of shot and shell. 

THE NEED OF SAND. 

To overcome the "slipping and skidding of automobiles on 
slippery city pavements," sand-boxes have been provided. 

Many a boy has found the city pavements very slippery. The 
one with plenty of grit, or "sand," will promptly say "No" to 
every temptation, while the fellow who wavers will find himself 
constantly "slipping and skidding" to his ruin. 

SONG OF THE FIGHT. 

Fear never won a conquest yet, 

Nor overcame a foe; 
'Tis Courage scales the parapet, 

While cowards flee below. 
When Duty calls, be quick with "Yes"; 

Aspire and serve and pray, 
And know no language but success, 

No future but to-day! 

— Frederick Lawrence Knowles. 

EVERY MAN WAS WILLING. 

True heroism is in being ready to act bravely, whether the 
opportunity ever comes or not. 

Fire was once discovered in the coal bunkers of one of the 
great warships of the United States. It had crept up to the 
powder magazines, and if an explosion was to be avoided, 
eighty tons of hot shells and powder-boxes must be carried out 
as speedily as possible. Nine of the crew entered the magazines 
and removed the explosives, endangering their lives, but saving 
the ship. One of the men, when asked about it afterward, 
replied: "Please do not make us heroes, when all of the two 
hundred aboard would have done the same thing if we hadn't 
beaten them to it." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 63 



THE BOY'S CLEVER RETORT. 

A business man of New York City, who became a staunch 
supporter of the church, went one evening during his boyhood 
with a friend to the latter's club, where a group of men were 
playing cards for money. When they were invited to join in 
the game, the youth refused, whereupon a famous military man, 
who was participating in the gambling, sneeringly said: "Per- 
haps your mother doesn't know you are out." The boy's face 
reddened with a blush of indignation as he retorted: 

"Yes, she knows it, sir, and she supposes I'm in the com- 
pany of gentlemen. Seeing I'm not, I'll go home to her." 

Every true-hearted boy would do well to keep in mind this 
fine example of courage. 

HE STOPPED THE RACES. 

One Sunday in August, 1912, seven thousand people assem- 
bled at the race-track in Canton, Ohio, to witness the weekly 
automobile contest. Sheriff Oberlin, who had been appealed to 
by the Canton Christian Endeavor Union to enforce the law, did 
so by arresting the promoters and stopping the races. As he 
left the track many shouted, in effect: "We'll see if Christian 
Endeavorers can elect you this fall!" 

The challenge was accepted. The fight was carried to the 
polls. Notwithstanding there was a landslide for the political 
party opposing the candidates of his party, Mr. Oberlin was 
elected by the largest majority given any candidate in the county. 

"They that forsake the law praise the wicked; but such as 
keep the law contend with them" (Prov. 28:4). 

INTERPRETING STEAM. 

An engineer, so the story goes, had a long, heavily loaded 
train to be hauled over the mountains, and walked out to the 
roundhouse where a number of locomotives were "steaming 
up." Stepping up to the largest, he asked the massive thing if 
5 



64 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



it could pull the train. "1-don't-think-l-can, 1-don't-think-l-can," 
it seemed to say slowly, over and over. He went to a smaller 
one with the same question. "I-think-I-can, l-think-l-can, I- 
think-l-can," it appeared to cheerily say, as if anxious for the 
opportunity to prove its assertion. The engineer took the 
sprightly, self-confident locomotive at its word, and all the way 
up the long hill it kept saying: "l-think-l-can, l-think-l-can, 
l-think-l-can" and finally reached the top. Going down the slope 
on the other side, it sang its song of victory: "l-thought-l-could, 
l-thought-l- could, l-thought-l-could," with ever-increasing speed. 
"l-don't-think-l-can" never won a victory. 

ORDERED THE KAISER. 

The German Emperor, impatient because the speed of his 
yacht was slowed down on entering a certain harbor in Norway, 
persisted in asserting his authority by ringing the bell for "full 
speed ahead," says the Weekly Telegraph. . 

To his great surprise, the pilot, an old Norwegian named 
Nordhums, who knew the dangers of the channel, promptly 
countermanded the order, and finally thundered to the Emperor, 
"Leave the bridge!" With this he grasped the wheel more 
firmly, and continued : "This craft is under my charge, and I'll 
have no interference from Emperor or seaman." 

Nordhums stood calmly at his post and steered the yacht 
safely into port. The next day the ruler, who had recovered 
his good humor, decorated the man with one of the German 
orders, and also appointed him his pilot for life in Norwegian 
waters. 

ONE ABOVE THE KING. 

Hans Von Zieten was a brave general under Frederick the 
Great, and a Christian. On one occasion, when dining at the 
palace, the infidel king made some profane expression about the 
Lord's Supper, and the other guests laughed at his remarks. 
The general arose and said with a firm voice: 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 65 



"Your Majesty knows that in war I have never feared any 
danger, and have been willing to give my life for you and my 
country. But there is One above us who is greater than you. 
He is the Saviour and Redeemer of men. In him is my hope 
in life and death. In the power of this faith your brave army 
has fought and conquered. If your Majesty undermines this 
faith, you undermine the welfare of the state." 

This bold confession made such a powerful impression on 
the king that he dismissed his guests, invited the general into 
his cabinet, and declared that he wished such a faith was his 
also. — Cook. 

ATHLETE WHO WAS BRAVE. 

Four young men, clerks and students, while on a summer 
vacation tramp through northern Xew England, engaged an 
athlete named Forrest Leo Graves to act as guide to a certain 
waterfall. At lunch, one of the party invited him to drink from 
a flask he produced. "No, sir. thank you,''' said Forrest, court- 
eously. The other insisted, finally springing toward him, remark- 
ing: "Now you are bound to try my brandy! I always rule!" 

"You can't rule me," was the courageous reply. With this 
the young guide seized the flask and hurled it into the stream. 
Then a clear, defiant tone rang out : 

"I did it in self-defense ! You had no right to tempt me. 
My father was once a rich and honorable man, but he died a 
miserable drunkard, and my mother came here to live to keep 
me away from liquor until I should be old enough to take care 
of myself. I have promised her a hundred times I wouldn't 
taste it, and I'd die before I'd break my promise." 

The reckless one stood as if dazed, and, seeing his error, 
frankly apologized. — Exchange. 

Courage of this stamp compels the admiration of even those 
who tempt. "Envy thou not the man of violence, and choose 
none of his ways," is an exhortation in the Proverbs. 



66 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



COURTESY. 

THE BEST REASON. 

"My boy," said a father to his son, "treat everybody with 
politeness, even those who are rude to you; for remember that 
you show courtesy to others not because they are gentlemen, but 
because you are one." 

WILLING TO TRY. 

The conversation of children is said to be a reflex of home 
surroundings and teachings. It is evident this boy had absorbed 
a spirit of helpfulness, to say the least: In reply to the question 
of a lady who called to see about renting a room in the home, 
as to whether or not they had any rats or mice, he said kindly: 

"No, ma'am, we haven't just now, but I think I could get 
some for you!" 

HOW IT LOOKED TO PAT. 

"Greet the world with a smile and it will smile back at you. 
Give it a frown and you will get a frown in return." 

A well-dressed man, who entered an inn with a dog, was 
asked by an Irishman what breed it was. 

"A cross between an ape and an Irishman," was the insolent 
reply. 

"Faith, thin," retorted Pat, with characteristic good humor, 
"we're both related to the beast!" 

THE WISH OF BOTH. 

A magazine tells of a woman of Irish descent boarding a 
crowded street-car with a number of bundles, and making room 
for herself by the side of a stylishly dressed young man, who 
was plainly disgusted as she proceeded to eat a cheese sandwich. 
Observing his displeasure, she turned and said to him in a good- 
natured way: 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 67 



"I suppose that ye'd prafer-r to have a gintleman a-sittin* 
next to ye?" 

"I certainly would!" was the curt reply. 

"So would I !" calmly replied the woman as she proceeded to 
devour the sandwich. 

BECAUSE HE WAS KIND. 

In the will of an old lady who died in Boston was provision 
for $10,000 as a token of remembrance to a young man who 
once did her just a little act of kindness. The following para- 
graph in the document tells the story: 

'This money is bequeathed to Charlie Dawson Hendrickson 
because of the gentle manner in which he cared for me on a 
stormy day, on a Washington-street crossing in Boston. It is 
a slight recognition of his courtesy from one who has never 
forgotten." 

No doubt the act was performed by him as naturally as he 
would breathe, for real gentleness is not characteristic of those 
who may be unkind in heart. 

DUTY. 

LOSING THEIR LIVES. 

A few years ago a policeman shouted to a boy in the canal 
at Preston, England: "Hello! Why are you bathing there?" 
"I'm not," the lad shouted; "I'm drowning." Then the officer 
rescued him, of course. Many persons who are supposed to be 
having a good time in the world are really losing their lives. It 
is the privilege and duty of Christ's followers to rescue them. — 
Living Water. 

THE IMPORTANT THING. 

Francis Willard Rollins received a local preacher's license 
from the New Haven District of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church when but sixteen years of age. Prior to that time he 



68 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



had preached occasionally in his father's pulpit and in neighbor- 
ing towns. One paper said of him that he professed no knowl- 
edge of theology, but remarked in a straightforward, manly 
fashion: "I believe I know what God wants us to do, and what 
he'll do to us if we don't do it." 

WHY ON "THE FOURTH"? 

July 4, 1776, was a hot, sultry day, and the Colonial dele- 
gates to Congress were debating the advisability of ratifying 
the Declaration of Independence, when some one opened the 
windows, and in came droves of flies, says Thomas Jefferson 
in his writings. This unexpected annoyance seemed to hasten 
proceedings, else the debate might have gone over to the next 
day, possibly longer. Finally President Hancock seized his quill 
and signed the document. Rather than offer further opposition 
and prolong the agony, all of the other delegates quickly penned 
their names. 

When you have a duty to perform, do not permit annoyances 
of any kind to deter you or cause delay. Remember that we 
celebrate the fourth of July instead of the fifth, or some later 
date, because the signers of the Declaration of Independence 
acted in the "now." 

EFFICIENCY. 

MINERS WEIGHED WITH SILVER. 

Ore from a silver mine in Mexico is weighed in sacks on 
the backs of miners, thus saving considerable time by avoiding 
rehandling. The checker has the weight of each man and his 
equipment, so that the correct number of pounds of the ore is 
represented by the difference. 

We say of a man that he is worth so much, meaning the 
value of his earthly possessions in silver and gold, but it is 
not true. Each person is worth only his actual "weight" in the 
things that count for character-building. We might carry tens 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 69 



of thousands of dollars in a sack on our back, but it would not 
indicate our worth by as much as a single cent. 

HER NAME ON A WRAPPER. 

A California girl wrote her name and address on a fruit- 
wrapper, which eventually reached an Illinois youth. He wrote 
to her, she replied, correspondence continued, and two years 
later they were married at Kansas City. Similar results have 
followed the writing of names on eggs, baskets of fruit and 
other products, as well as in all sorts of odd places. 

It isn't so important that we write our names on our work 
as that we impress upon it the stamp of honest, efficient service. 

WHAT MAIL CLERKS DO. 

Wonderful are the possibilities of the human intellect. In 
the railway mail service of the United States each clerk must 
be familiar with the location of from five to twenty thousand 
post-offices, and able to tell instantly where each is located, what 
the best railroad connections for getting mail to its destination 
in the least possible time, as well as many other details which 
can be mastered only by very retentive minds. The accuracy to 
which men may attain is shown by Frederick J. Haskin. He 
tells of one mail clerk who handled seventeen thousand cards 
addressed to as many post-offices, at the rate of sixty a minute, 
without putting a single card in the wrong pigeon-hole in the 
mailing-case. 

Mental power justly commands admiration, but nothing so 
thrills the masses as to witness the highest possible development 
of a man's moral and spiritual power. 

A NEW MAN EVERY DAY. 

"Are you the same man you were yesterday? If you are, 
there is something wrong," writes Rev. John H. Denison, using 
as a text, "Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man 
is renewed day by day" (2 Cor. 4: 16). He says we would find 



70 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



it wearisome if the same copy of a paper were handed to us 
every day, adding : "A man should get out a new issue of himself 
every day. Don't let your life get stale. It is disgusting to 
your friends to find you harping on the same old hobbies. . . . 
Throw out the grievances of the past. Get some new idea every 
day; something that will stimulate you to be what you have 
never been. Yield your life to Him who said: 'The old things 
are passed away; lo, I make all things new.' Do nothing that 
is not done in the power of His Spirit, and your life will be 
fresh and young, even in the day of old age and in the hour 
of death." 

TIME SAVED IS MONEY MADE. 

The biggest word in the modern business world is "efficiency." 
An expert saved ten per cent, of the fuel used in a great factory 
by having the belts of a certain shaft rearranged. Another 
carefully studied the movements of bricklayers, reducing the 
number of their motions by two-thirds. 

In a large plant where many men were employed putting 
machines together, a moving picture was taken of the entire 
process. An expert studied the photographic record, piece by 
piece, for days, resulting in so many useless motions being dis- 
pensed with that the men were enabled to put the machines 
together in less than one-fourth the time formerly required. 
A similar experiment in a garment factory where women used 
sewing-machines resulted in a net increase of their product by 
several hundred per cent. 

Important as is the matter of time-saving in the business 
world, it is small compared with the wise and best possible use 
of time in character-building; in other words, doing good. 
Many, who say they haven't time, would no doubt be surprised 
should they make a careful study of the subject, as does the 
business man, to find that they are not living up to their possi- 
bilities in this regard by one-half. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 71 



EGOTISM. 

. SUBSTITUTE SUGGESTED. 

Overdone sentimentality may not always be rebuked, but it 
usually fails to make the desired impression. A university pro- 
fessor, on the eve of a two years' trip to Europe, made his fare- 
well address to the students in distressed tones. 

"Yes," said he, "this parting is very painful to me. Would 
that there was a window in my breast, my dear boys, that you 
might see the innermost recesses of my heart." 

A stripling in the rear shouted back: "Professor, would a 
pane in the stomach do?" 

WHY THE SMOKESTACK BROKE. 

A new steel smokestack in an Eastern city broke just above 
the ring to which the guy-wires were attached for its support, 
during a cold spell, and toppled over to one side. It was all 
right for ordinary weather, but the guy-wires were not fastened 
high enough to enable it to stand any unusual strain. 

The man who carries his head higher than the guy-ring of 
his mental ability will justify, may get along all right for awhile, 
but sooner or later his deficiency will be discovered and he will 
"topple over," not only in his own eyes, but likewise in the esti- 
mation of those he has deceived. 

LETTERS A FOOT HIGH. 

Man's desire to be remembered after death is pitiful. All 
sorts of things are done with this in view. A Chicago citizen 
leased a piece of land in a prominent part of the city to another, 
for ninety-nine years, at $5,000 a year, on the condition that his 
name, in letters a foot high, be kept on the front of all build- 
ings erected thereon, for that length of time. 

Let us learn there is no lasting peace, rest, comfort or salva- 
tion in the name by which we are known, but only in exalting 



72 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



and being true to the Name that is above every name — Jesus, 
Saviour, Redeemer, Friend. This alone can satisfy the cravings 
of the human heart, and flood the soul with joy eternal. 

WASTED HIS STEAM. 

An egotistical engineer in a lumber-camp was discharged 
because on the very first morning he pulled the whistle wide 
open, making the welkin ring for miles around. When the fore- 
man was ready to start the force on a big day's work he discov- 
ered there was not enough steam left to move the machinery. 

Perhaps you have heard the story of the steamboat on the 
Mississippi, in early days, with such a big whistle that, whenever 
it was sounded, the boat was compelled to stop for lack of steam 
to go ahead. 

Do not waste your time or energy relating what you have 
done or expect to do. Admiration is for him who is quietly 
doing his best. 

ENVIRONMENT. 

THE IRONY OF FATE. 

The real significance of even the most familiar words and 
sayings is best understood by those who have felt the meaning 
of them. It is said that at a meeting of authors in New York, 
one, in telling a tale, used the expression "the irony of fate." 
This prompted a listener to relate a painful application of the 
phrase which once came to him, says Lippincotfs Magazine. 
"It was when I was in San Francisco, and was nearly down and 
out. I received a money-order from home for forty dollars, and 
the only man who could identify me was one to whom I owed 
thirty-eight." 

SENDING BEES BY MAIL. 

For many years the sending of bees by mail was not only 
difficult, but the little creatures generally arrived at the end of 
their journey either dead or so nearly exhausted that they were 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 73 



of but little value. Uncle Sam has many different kinds of mail- 
bags, one of the improved styles being known as a "bee-bag." 
It is so constructed that the honey-makers may obtain food and 
air en route, and arrive at their destination, even though it be 
thousands of miles away, in good condition. 

If we would arrive safely at the soul's destination, we must 
have the right kind of moral and spiritual food en route, and 
live in the pure air of clean thoughts. 

MEN WITH GREEN HAIR. 

The information is given by a writer that men who work in 
the copper mines of Cuba, Chile, and other places where the ore 
is abundant, have green hair, due to a process of roasting the 
ore in monster furnaces in order to make it more marketable. 
It is said the fumes and gases contain a quantity of arsenical 
matter, thus causing the remarkable change in the color of the 
hair. It is the severe result of surroundings. 

Associating with persons of vicious habits, coming in con- 
tact with the fumes of tobacco and liquor, and the gases of foul 
language, may not make a man's hair green, but it often blackens 
a once clean heart It is the deplorable result of evil surround- 
ings — of impure social atmosphere. 

ETERNITY. 

WONDERS OF NATURE. 

James Hamilton Byrd says of the wonderful petrified forests 
of the Yellowstone National Park: "The visitor views no less 
than fifteen submerged forests, standing upright as they grew, 
one on top of the other, each representing a separate period of 
the earth's history. On the precipitate and almost vertical sides 
of the Yellowstone canyon, where the river has, during the ages, 
cut its way through the mountains to a depth of two thousand 
feet, may be seen the trees of these separate periods — layer upon 



74 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



layer, cemented into the volcanic debris which in turn over- 
whelmed each growing forest where it stood," presumably requir- 
ing millions of years. 

Marvelous and old and stable as these petrified forests now 
appear, they represent periods of change from one state to 
another. In a world of even slow change, where God "cutteth 
out channels among the rocks/' as we read in Job 28 : 10, it is 
satisfying beyond measure to know that God and his Son, per- 
fect in love and power, are eternal; that Christ, the world's 
Saviour, is the same "yesterday, to-day and for ever"; that he 
himself prayed, "O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self 
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was"; 
whose power is as a stone cut out without hands, destroying the 
image described in the second chapter of Daniel, and became 
"a great mountain and filled the whole earth," typifying a king- 
dom "which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty 
thereof be left to another people, but it shall break in pieces 
and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." 

"ONLY A MINUTE." 

I have only just a minute, only sixty seconds in it, forced 
upon me; can't refuse it; didn't seek it, didn't choose it; but it's 
tip to me to use it; I must suffer if I lose it; give account if I 
abuse it. Just a tiny little minute — but eternity is in it. — Rev. 
H. M. Course. 

THE FOOD OF THE WORLD. 

Bergfield, a German investigator, accounts for the different 
races in the human family, so far as color is concerned, on the 
theory that certain foods and drinks used throughout the cen- 
turies have produced certain colors of the skin. For instance, 
the Indian is red because for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of 
years he has taken into his system the red material in the blood 
of animals which he has killed for food ; the Caucasian is white 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 75 



because of his liberal use of milk and salt, the latter being a 
strong chloride, "and powerful in bleaching the skin." 

Whether or not the food is the cause of one race being 
white, others red, yellow, brown or black, it is true that all must 
have food for the physical being, and just as true that all hun- 
ger and thirst for something more, for which there is but one 
satisfying source of supply. John 6:35: "Jesus said unto them, 
I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall not hunger, 
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." 

EXAMPLE. 

BEST KIND OF TEACHING. 

In a Government school in Japan was a man who signed a 
contract not to teach Christianity, nor proselyte. So far as 
words were concerned, he kept his agreement faithfully. But 
his noble, blameless life could not be hid. Forty of the students, 
without his knowledge at the time, met secretly and pledged 
themselves to forsake idolatry, for the religion of their beloved 
teacher, which they did. More than this, a number of them 
began preaching the gospel in their native land. "A consistent 
Christian example is a constant proof of godliness." 

OMENS OF GOOD AND ILL. 

Among the superstitions of railroad men is that, if a careless 
fireman permits the engine bell to toll after ringing it, some 
member of the engineer's family will die soon. Many conduc- 
tors wear a flower in the buttonhole of the coat, believing it to 
be a good omen. Some consider it a sign of death upon the 
trip if the headlight of the engine goes out while leaving the 
roundhouse. 

Regardless of how these superstitions originated, it is note- 
worthy that the same degree of carelessness which would permit 
the unintentional tolling of a bell, might result in danger to self 



76 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



or others ; that a flower in the buttonhole should always be con- 
sidered a good sign, for it is alike cheering to wearer and 
beholder; and that failure to "let our light shine," not neces- 
sarily through the headlight of a locomotive, but by our con- 
duct, may prove a misfortune to those who are influenced by 
our example. 

HUNTED A SAFE CROSSING. 

The story is told of a big dog which had often gone with 
its master for walks in the woods, easily leaping over a certain 
gulley, but that one day, when a little dog was along, it went a 
quarter of a mile upstream before crossing, at a safe place, 
because the more dangerous way might have resulted in the 
injury or death of the small animal. 

If all men were as thoughtful of the welfare of those who 
are following in their footsteps, this would be a much better 
world, with fewer boys falling by the wayside. 

EXPRESSION. 

CULTIVATING A KEY-NOTE. 

"Upon visiting some great milling establishments in England," 
writes Ethel Powelson Hueston, "we were astonished to find 
that we could not hear each other speak, because of the terrific 
noise and uproar. We stood close together and yelled at the top 
of our voices. The men who worked in the mills conversed 
with each other quietly and comfortably. Their voices seemed 
lower than usual; just ordinary, quiet, distinct conversation. 
They had cultivated a different key-note." 

When things go wrong, do not imagine that a loud tone, an 
impatient manner, or a manifestation of temper, will help mat- 
ters. By pitching your voice against the confusion of sounds in 
the world the probabilities are you will not be heard. Cultivate 
a key-note distinct from the rumble and roar around you. If 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 77 



you are patient, calm and confident, people will hear and believe 
the words you utter. 

CONFUSION OF WORDS. 

Speakers and writers should learn to express themselves 
clearly. An Irishman, referring to the prevalence of suicide, 
said: "The only way to stop it is to make it a capital offense, 
punishable by death." A member of the British Parliament, in 
discussing some measure, asked : "Why should we beggar our- 
selves to better posterity? What has posterity done for us?" 
A minister who had advertised for an organist for his church 
received this reply : "Dear Sir : I notice you have a vacancy for 
an organist and music-teacher, either lady or gentleman. Hav- 
ing been both for several years, I beg to apply for the position." 
The Boston Transcript publishes the following on "tripping 
authors" : 

"Writes Arnold Bennett: 'She won 15,000 francs in as many 
minutes.' Pretty long session, that ! 

"Another novelist says: 'Her eyes filled with silent tears.' 
Generally they boom like billows, you know ! 

"According to another: 'Charlotte Von Stern was, when 
Goethe first met her, several years older than himself.' But 
later, of course, 'twas otherwise!" 

EXTRAVAGANCE. 

SINKING OF THE CASPIAN. 

When it was found that the surface level of the Caspian Sea 
was sinking, thus interfering with navigation, a comprehensive 
study of the matter was made by scientists. The cause was 
traced to the diminishing inflow of water from the rivers tribu- 
tary to the Caspian, the supply not equaling the evaporation from 
the large surface. 

Many failures in life may be traced to the fact that persons 



78 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



live beyond their income. The outgo is greater than the inflow. 
This can not long continue without serious consequences. 

WHICH WOULD BE BEST? 

The United States battleship "South Dakota" cost $12,000,000. 
For twenty years it will cost $800,000 annually to keep it up, 
then it will be consigned to the junk-heap. Total expense, 
$28,000,000. This sum would build fourteen hundred churches 
at $20,000 each, or give a college education, at $500 a year for 
four years, to fourteen thousand young men and women. — Adult 
Bible Class Monthly. 

Stupendous as may seem this comparison, we must remember 
it relates to the cost of but one of the many battleships in our 
own and other navies. 

"DOGS IN CLOVER." 

Harold Murray, of London, writes of the care taken of many 
canines by well-to-do dog fanciers: "There are handsome coats, 
shoes, collars, ties and handkerchiefs. There are specially pre- 
pared hair-washes, silver-toothed combs and costly hair-brushes. 
'Going to the dogs/ after all, does not always seem to imply a 
life of misery. These fortunate pets are treated far better than 
thousands of babies in Christian England; and while they are 
in the lap of luxury, scores of homeless men starve to death 
every year." 

What he says of England is equally true of America. 

FAITH. 

THE WIT OF A BISHOP. 

An atheist once asked Bishop Boyd Carpenter if he believed 
that Jonah was swallowed by a whale, and received the answer: 
"When I go to heaven I will ask him." 
"But suppose he isn't there," the other persisted. 
"Then you ask him," was the quick retort 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 79 



WHY SHE DID NOT FEAR. 

A father was holding his blind daughter on his knee, when 
a friend who had called took her in his arms. The little one 
made no outcry. "Aren't you afraid, darling?" the father asked; 
"you don't know who has you." "No," was the prompt reply, 
"but you do." Faith in her father's loving care banished fear. — 
W. Hetherington. 

THE ANSWER HE SENT. 

During the work of Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, the 
sachems sent men to threaten him, but he replied: "I fear none 
oi them. Tell those who sent you that I am under the protec- 
tion of almighty God, and shall go on with my work without any 
fear of what man can do to me." They stared at him in amaze- 
ment and went away without doing him violence. — Christian 
Herald. 

THE GIRL'S VERSION. 

It is said that a cobbler who was an infidel wrote on a black- 
board in his shoe-shop : "God is nowhere." A little girl, who 
had just learned to read, came into his place of business soon 
after and slowly spelled out the sentence. "God is n-o-w, now; 
h-e-r-e, here ; God is now here." 

The child expressed the sentiment of many of the brightest 
men and women who have ever lived. 

NOT SEEKING HINDRANCES. 

A Swede was about to start as a missionary to India, when 
some of his friends tried to dissuade him, saying: "It is so hot 
there you can't live. Why, it is 120 degrees in the shade." 
"Veil," said the man of faith, in great contempt, "ve don't have 
to stay in the shade, do ve?" It is just possible the Lord will 
make it hotter for folks who habitually hunt the shade than for 
those who get out into the sunlight where they can see to work. 
— Robert E. Speer. 
6 



80 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



IMITATION OF THE ARK. 

"One of the most curious and interesting undertakings in 
years," says the Youth's Companion, "is that of the building in 
Denmark of a vessel modeled upon the lines of Noah's ark, as 
described in Genesis. When launched, the ship, to the surprise 
of the builder, proved itself very seaworthy. The London 
Spectator, in commenting upon this curious undertaking, says 
that the experiment is regarded by the Danes as strengthening 
belief in the accuracy of the Biblical story of Noah's escape." 

THE TESTING-TIME. 

Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, New York, in the 
Revolutionary War, a noted infidel of his time, was called to the 
dying-bed of his daughter, who said to him: 

"Father, before mother died she taught me to believe in 
Christ. You know what you have taught me. Now that I must 
leave this world, whose teachings shall I trust in, yours or 
mother's?" 

With sobs of distress the father cried: "Trust in the teach- 
ings of your mother, my child!" 

ACROSS DEATH VALLEY. 

Several survivors of the first band of white persons to cross 
Death Valley, in 1849, held a reunion at Santa Cruz, California, 
one being a woman ninety-nine years of age. Among other 
hardships recalled was the fact that they were fifty-two days 
crossing the sands of Mojave Desert. The others admitted that 
had it not been for the woman's words of faith, cheer and 
encouragement they would never have reached the land of the 
Golden Gate, "where Pacific breezes blow and blossoms ever 
scent the air." 

The whole human race longs for the Eternal Land of Golden 
Sunshine, where flowers of happiness and contentment ever 
bloom; but it lies beyond the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 81 



Is there encouragement to press on? Listen to Christ, our 
Saviour, who has crossed Death Valley and conquered it: 
"He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, 
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but 
is passed from death unto life." 

IN POSITION OF PERIL. 

Utterly powerless to save himself, an Illinois man in a bed 
of quicksand shouted for hours for help, which came none too 
soon, for he had gone down to his armpits, and would soon have 
been swallowed up in death. Workmen lassoed him with a rope 
and pulled him two hundred feet to solid ground. 

Man in the quicksands of evil is often powerless to help 
himself. Many times he does not realize his danger until he 
feels himself going down in spite of all he can do. When in 
faith he shouts to God for help, he will be heard and saved. 

HER FATHER'S LARGE HAND. 

Mrs. A. B. Bryant tells of a little girl w T ho was walking home 
with her father one night, holding on to his hand, when she 
suddenly begged: "Take my hand, papa! I can take only a 
little piece of yours, but you can hold the whole of mine!" In 
his strong grasp she seemed comforted, but stopped again, ask- 
ing: "Papa, are you afraid?" He assured her he was not, when 
she cheerfully started on, with the words: "All wight! If you 
isn't, I isn't." The man afterwards remarked: "I have read 
many books on faith, but nothing ever appealed to me like that. 
I'm trying to trust God that way." 

NAPOLEON REWARDS CONFIDENCE. 

One day when Napoleon was reviewing his troops in Paris, 
he let fall the reins of his bridle, and his proud charger galloped 
swiftly away. Before he could recover himself a common sol- 
dier ran out of the ranks, caught the horse and placed the reins 
again in the emperor's hands. "Much obliged to you, Captain," 



82 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



said Napoleon. "Of what regiment, sire?" the man immediately 
asked. Delighted with his quick perception and ready trust in 
his word, the great general replied: "Of my guard." So the 
soldier walked proudly to his position as captain of Napoleon's 
guard. God honors and delights in a like manifestation of faith. 
Take him at his word, doubting nothing. — E. W. Thornton. 

LOOKING DOWN UPON A STORM. 

A writer in the Christian Endeavor World tells of being with 
seven men on Mt. Katahdin in 1874, during a thunder-storm, 
when they witnessed a most wonderful phenomenon. From a 
sheltered spot in the rocks they looked to the east and saw the 
rain descend from the clouds to the earth, a mile below, with 
the sun in all its brightness shining down upon the storm, trans- 
forming the scene into a double rainbow — a complete circle of 
marvelous beauty. 

It is for those on the mountain-top of faith to behold the 
Sun of righteousness shining down upon the storms of earth, 
transforming the scene into a complete circle of joy. 

TRUSTING THE EX-CONVICT. 

A. I. Root, the well-known bee-man in Ohio, once went to 
the county jail to read the Bible and pray with an inmate who 
was on his way to the penitentiary. The prisoner was converted, 
and Mr. Root was permitted to take him away, and gave him 
work in his jewelry store. Finally he asked him to sleep in the 
store at nights, to protect the valuables from possible burglaries. 
The ex-convict looked very serious, then broke down and cried 
until his strong body shook with emotion, as Mr. Root tells it in 
"Gleanings in Bee Culture." After a few moments he asked 
him : 

"Fred, you are not afraid your old temptation will come back 
when you are here alone in the night-time, are you?" 

He replied through his tears : "No, Mr. Root, no ! God bless 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 83 



you, no! I'm only too glad of the chance to show you that I 
will give my last drop of blood to protect you or yours." 
And he kept his promise until the day of his death. 

NO DANGER THAT TRIP. 

"One beautiful morning in the spring of 1863," says a writer 
in Zion's Watchman, "I was on a passenger train on the Balti- 
more & Ohio Railroad, crossing the green glades from the Alle- 
ghanies westward. At that time the road was held alternately 
by the Federal and Confederate armies, and travel was neither 
safe nor pleasant. The train was behind time, and whirled 
rapidly around curves, across bridges and over fields, so that 
many faces wore a look of anxiety. Presently a little girl of 
four or five came along the aisle, and I engaged her in conver- 
sation, asking how it was she was not afraid. In a clear, sweet 
voice which I shall never forget, she said: 'Some mornings I am 
afraid, but there's no danger this morning, for papa is running 
the engine/" 

We should not needlessly worry about the world and the out- 
come as we make the journey of life. Our heavenly Father is 
in charge of it all. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S FAITH. 

William J. Johnson, in his book, "Abraham Lincoln, the 
Christian," gives the following as one instance of the unwaver- 
ing faith of the man: 

"Mr. L. E. Chittenden, who was Register of the Treasury 
under Lincoln, says he ventured on one occasion to ask him how 
far he believed that the Almighty directed national affairs. Lin- 
coln replied: 'That the Almighty does make use of human 
agencies, and directly interferes in human affairs, is one of the 
plainest statements of the Bible. I have had so many evidences 
of his direction, so many instances when I have been controlled 
by some other power than my own will, I can not doubt that 



84 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



this power comes from above. I frequently see my way clear 
to a decision when I am conscious that I have not sufficient 
facts on which to found it. But I can not recall one instance, 
founded upon such a decision, when the results were unsatis- 
factory. ... I am confident that when the Almighty wants me 
to do, or not to do, a particular thing, he finds a way of letting 
me know it." 

FLAGS AT HALF-MAST. 

Centuries ago the custom was adopted of placing the flag of 
a conquering nation above that of the vanquished, signifying 
the superiority of one and the respect of the other. Later, when 
soldiers died, flags were lowered in respect to their memory. 
The custom finally passed from military usage to public life, so 
now a flag flying at half-mast means that some one has not only 
proven worthy of the honor, but that the space above is for the 
flag of the universal conqueror, Death. 

But listen! His victory is only apparent, not real. Paul 
says in his letter to the Corinthians: "The last enemy that shall 
be destroyed is death. . . . O death, where is thy sting? O grave, 
where is thy victory? . . . Thanks be to God who giveth us the 
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Remember, the White Flag of Faith is never at half-mast. 
It floats in triumph over all other flags, standing for faith in 
One whose name is above every name. 

BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE. 

The celebrated Rabbi Akiba had as a motto, "Whatever God 
does is well done." On one occasion when traveling on a long 
journey he came to a certain village to stop for the night, but 
was refused admission, so camped a short distance beyond its 
borders. He had with him a lamp, a rooster and a donkey. A 
gust of wind blew out the lamp, and, having nothing with which 
to again light it, he was left in darkness. Soon a wildcat 
pounced out of a thicket, carrying off his rooster, and a lion 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 85 



slew his beast. The next morning he learned that a band of 
robbers had massacred the inhabitants of the village during the 
night. Then he perceived how the refusal to permit him to stop 
there had been a blessing in disguise, as had the apparent mis- 
fortunes. He reasoned that had the wind not put out his light 
it would probably have attracted the robbers to him; that had 
the wildcat not killed his rooster, its crowing would have done 
the same; and that had the lion not killed his donkey, its bray- 
ing would surely have been heard by the murderous band. Once 
more he said gratefully : "What God does is well done." 

HOW TANK WAS HOISTED. 

Having erected a large barn, an Australian farmer was per- 
plexed as to how to hoist a four-hundred-gallon steel water-tank 
to the top of it No suitable block and tackle equipment could 
be obtained. Then he thought of his motorcycle, and reasoned 
that here, right at hand, was a power more than sufficient for 
the task. Two poles with a cross-bar at the top, a pulley and 
a strong rope were put in position, and with the power furnished 
by the motorcycle the tank was easily lifted to its place on the 
roof. 

In every life come times when, in the pursuit of some worthy 
work, the limit of available power seems to have been reached. 
We become discouraged, perhaps, and cease trying. Then we 
remember there is a Power right at hand; that God is ever 
with us, only waiting for us to ask in faith, that he may supply 
all our needs. We have the promise in Isa. 40 : 31 : "They that 
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount 
up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they 
shall walk and not faint." 

WHEN ALL ARE ALIKE. 

During the days following the destruction of San Francisco 
by fire, resulting from the disastrous earthquake in April, 1906, 



86 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



it was very noticeable that rich and poor were one in spirit. 
Faith and tender sympathy was the one thing manifest on all 
sides. In times of distress and peril the human heart turns to 
God as naturally as the growing plant to the sunlight. 

When the great ship "Titanic" went down, carrying fifteen 
hundred people to a watery grave, including eleven millionaires, 
the last moments of many were spent in prayer, while the ship's 
band played, "Nearer, My God, to Thee," until the cold waters 
of death smothered the last notes of the upturned instruments. 
Here is one incident related by the Christian Standard : 

"A deck chair from the Titanic' was picked up on the ocean 
recently. On it John Jacob Astor had inscribed a message. 
What would it be — the last words of such a man at such a time? 
'We will meet in heaven.' It is significant that not all the skep- 
ticism of a skeptical world, nor all the crash and clash of the 
stormiest life, can remove from the human heart that elemental 
conviction that there is a life beyond." 

THE DEATH OF A BOY. 

In a sermon on "Childhood," in 1896, Talmage referred to a 
most touching incident that came under his observation when 
pastor in a Western town — the passing away of Scoville McCol- 
lum, aged ten years. 

"This story," said the great preacher, "has brought hundreds 
to God. He was a thorough boy — his voice loudest and his foot 
swiftest on the playground. When the days of sickness came 
suddenly and he was told he could not get well, he said: 'Don't 
cry, mamma. I shall go right up to heaven. I lay myself at 
Jesus' feet, and I want him to do just what he thinks best/ In 
those days, 'Rest for the Weary' was a popular hymn, and he 
learned it. In a perfect ecstasy of soul, in his last hour he sang 
a verse and added: 'There is rest for you, papa! There is rest 
for you, mamma! Yes, there is rest for me.' Then he asked 
them to read, 'The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 87 



maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside 
still waters/ and he cried out, 'O death, where is thy sting? Q 
grave, where is thy victory?' And so, with a peace indescribable, 
he passed away." 

FAITHFULNESS. 

"HOLD YOUR SPEED." 

T. E. Wilson, who commenced working for Morris & Co., 
the well-known meat firm, when twenty years of age, and was 
finally elected president of the company, gives this bit of advice 
to young men: "If you attract the favorable attention of your 
superiors, forget it, and hold your speed." 

THE LIGHTED TORCH. 

The Greeks had a foot-race in which speed and endurance 
were not the only tests. Each man at the start was given a 
lighted torch, and the laurel wreath was for the one who came 
in first, "with his torch alight." Success in life is not merely 
"getting there," but, more important still, in keeping the light of 
God burning in our hurrying souls. — Christian Endeavor World. 

"ALWAYS ON THE JOB." 

Louis E. Pierson, who was chosen president of one of the 
largest wholesale grocery houses in the world, at $100,000 a 
year, when he was only forty-two years of age, made his place 
for himself. When sixteen he began as a messenger in a bank. 
Nothing distinguished him from others in like service except 
that his accounts were always correct, and he was "always on 
the job." He climbed up step by step to the presidency of the 
bank, leaving it, at an offer of $65,000 per year, to accept the 
position with the wholesale house referred to above. 

The young man who makes good in the most humble posi- 
tion will later prove worthy and make good in a greater one, 
should the opportunity come. 



88 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



A STEP AT A TIME. 

One carrier on a rural mail route in Missouri traveled over 
one hundred thousand miles in fourteen years while serving the 
patrons of his route. This is equal to four times around the 
world. And yet it was accomplished by keeping at it, day after 
day, week after week and year after year, his faithful horses 
going just one step at a time. 

Every great life has been lived in the same way — made up 
by the many little duties met and performed, one at a time, "day 
in and day out." 

TO REACH THE SUMMIT. 

It was Beecher who said: "When a man seeks to see Rome 
from the dome of St. Peter's, every step he takes in the long, 
winding passage is wise — if he takes them all! Not one counts 
until he has taken the last — and then they all count, for that 
which he is to see can be seen only when he stands on the 
summit." 

In many of the efforts of men they fail because they do not 
persevere to the finish. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I 
will give thee a crown of life." The reward is for those who 
have done their best. 

THE HEART OF LIVINGSTONE. 

Because of his devotion to the black people of Africa, David 
Livingstone refused to return home with Stanley, because his 
"task was not yet completed." In less than a year his vitality 
was exhausted, and on the morning of May 1, 1873, he was 
found by his faithful attendant kneeling by his bed, his head in 
his hand, upon his pillow. His spirit had passed up to God on 
the wings of his final prayer. His faithful converts buried his 
heart under the great trees, for they said, "It belongs to Africa," 
and, after embalming his body in their crude way, they carried 
it across the floods and through the deep woods, by hostile 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 89 

tribes, a year's journey, to Zanzibar. Thence it was taken to 
England, and given a place among kings and statesmen in West- 
minster Abbey. — H. Melville Tenney. 

UNTIL RELIEVED. 

During the siege of the fortress of Gibraltar the governor, 
while making a tour of inspection, came to a sentinel who stood 
stock-still, neither holding his musket nor presenting arms. The 
governor stopped and demanded to know why he did not salute 
him. "Because," was the reply, "within the last five minutes two 
fingers of my right hand have been shot off and I can not hold 
my musket. - '' "Then, why do you not go and have it bound up ?" 
"Because," came the brave reply, "in Germany a man is forbid- 
den to leave his post until replaced by another." The officer 
immediately dismounted to relieve the faithful sentinel, that his 
wounds might be dressed. 

MARKS CENTER OF ENGLAND. 

Near the city of Leamington, England, stands a tree, sur- 
rounded by an iron fence, in the middle of a broad public thor- 
oughfare. This particular tree is given much care and distinc- 
tion because it is in the center of England. Visitors viewing it 
know where they are, relatively speaking, it matters not where 
their homes may be. 

It is a fine thing for a person to so live that those who know 
him feel strength in realizing that he stands impartially in the 
center of every duty, bearing his share of every burden, his 
influence radiating for good in every direction, his love extend- 
ing equally to all parts of the world. 

"ONLY WHEN SICK." 

When a shepherd in Scotland was asked if his sheep would 
follow the voice of a stranger, he replied : "Yes. when they are 
sick, but never when they are well. A sick sheep will follow 
anybody." Just so long as a Christian keeps himself in a healthy 



90 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



condition by feeding on God's word and by exercising in his 
fields of activity, there will be little danger of his going off after 
the "faddists" and false teachers of his age. It is when his 
ears become diseased — when he has contracted ear itch — that he 
becomes restless and dissatisfied with his Master. — W. H. Book, 
in The Lookout. 

Jesus says, as recorded in John 10 : 27, 28 : "My sheep hear 
my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give 
unto them eternal life." 

FOLLOWING ORDERS. 

A fifteen-year-old boy, who had been waiting patiently in 
line at a big bank, presented a slip of paper at the cashier's 
window calling for several hundred dollars, in different denomi- 
nations. It was evidently for the pay-roll of some large busi- 
ness house. First a roll of twenties was handed to the youth, 
and before he had finished counting this a lot of tens, fives and 
twos were shoved out. The cashier, evidently becoming impa- 
tient, threw down on the greenbacks a lot of silver — dollars, 
halves, quarters and dimes. The boy flushed, gave the man a 
long, straight look and deliberately continued counting until he 
had finished. Back in the waiting line was a tall, prosperous- 
looking man who had seen it all. When his turn came he said, 
rather sternly, to the cashier: 

"That boy you were trying to confuse a moment ago is my 
new office-boy. In counting the money before leaving, you knew 
he was following the orders of this bank — it's on one of your 
signs. I had also told him to do the same thing. He's going to 
get a raise Saturday night." 

NANSEN'S CARRIER-PIGEON. 

After an absence of thirty months a carrier-pigeon taken by 
Nansen on his polar expedition made a flight of one thousand 
miles over the frozen wastes of the far North, back to his home 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 91 



at Christiania, tapping at the window of Mrs. Nansen's home. 
She covered the little creature with kisses and caresses, for it 
bore a long-looked-for message from her husband, saying all 
was going well with him and his expedition in the polar regions. 
The Northern Christian Advocate comments on the incident as 
follows: "We boast of human pluck, sagacity and endurance, 
but this loving little carrier-pigeon accomplished a feat so won- 
derful that we can only give ourselves up to amazement and 
admiration." 

Near the close of his ministry on earth Jesus left this mes- 
sage with his disciples : "Go ye into all the world, and preach 
the gospel to the whole creation." After the lapse of nineteen 
hundred years and over, his message has not yet reached all for 
whom it was intended. Had his professed followers in all ages 
manifested one-half the faithfulness of Nansen's carrier-pigeon, 
the message would have reached hundreds of thousands who 
have died without ever hearing the sweetest story ever told to 
mortal man. 

FORGIVENESS. 

SAVED LIFE OF ENEMY. 

During the Revolutionary War a minister walked sixty miles 
to beg Washington to spare the life of a certain man sentenced 
to death for treason. Washington at first refused, but when the 
preacher remarked, "I suppose I have not a worse enemy living," 
the general was so moved that he readily granted the pardon. 
The forgiving spirit of the minister transformed his enemy into 
a friend and reformed a vicious character. 

REDEEMING BURNED MONEY. 

Every autumn the United States Treasurer receives for 
redemption charred bits of money stored in ovens and stoves 
during the warm summer months and forgotten until the return 
of cold weather, when the fires are rekindled. About two thou- 



92 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



sand such cases occur annually, coming first from the Northern 
States, and then gradually on down to the Gulf. 

Charred bits of noble beginnings, made in the bright spring 
days of youth, are remembered by many when frosted hairs 
remind them of the approach of life's autumn. It is then that 
the value of the good resolutions, scorched by the rush-heat of 
life's summer-time, is appreciated, and the heavenly Father, the. 
Treasurer of the world, is asked to redeem them, and to forgive 
the forgetfulness. 

ENEMIES AT THE GRAVE. 

In one of the cities of Ohio occurred the death of a young 
lady whose father had been at enmity with two of her brothers 
for fifteen years. The man carried his bitterness so far as to 
give notice that he would exclude the sons from the funeral at 
his home, which he did. The brothers, however, obtained an 
injunction restraining him from preventing them viewing the 
body of their sister. The father and sons stood less than four 
feet apart at the grave, as each took the last look at the loved 
one. 

It is such instances as these that strikingly emphasize the 
place and power of the spirit of Christ, who prayed for the for- 
giveness of his enemies, and who said : "If ye forgive men their 
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if 
ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father 
forgive your trespasses." 

FRIENDSHIP. 

WHERE CARE IS NEEDED. 

A beautiful structure months, perhaps years, in building may 
be destroyed by flames in a very short time. A forest of many 
years' growth may soon be leveled by a fire which has passed 
beyond control. Friendships which have been years in forming 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 93 



may be ruined by a fit of anger, by an uncontrolled tongue, in a 
thoughtless moment. Above every ordinary consideration, guard 
your friendships. Be true to those who have been true to you. 
Then, high above all earthly friendships, let us so live that we 
will never offend our best Friend — Christ, our Saviour. 

INVINCIBLE LOVE. 

Shall I tell you a little secret? It is this: The best way to 
get rid of all your enemies is to make friends of them. How? 
Well, perhaps it is hard, but it can be done — by serving them. 
Think well of them all the time. Keep asserting in your mind 
that you love them. Pray for them. Never think of their faults. 
Watch for some opportunity to do them a good turn unostenta- 
tiously. Keep at it, again and again, until your persistent love 
is crowned with success. The effects of love are cumulative. 
No one can resist in the end. Love's handclasp never leaves a 
sting in the palm. — Rev. R. P. Anderson. 

NOVEL TELEGRAPHY. 

A deaf-mute and a blind man in Pennsylvania found great 
pleasure and helpful friendship in conversing with each other 
by means of telegraph instruments, using the Morse code. A 
green electric bulb showed the flashes for the deaf one, and the 
blind man caught the ticks from the sounder. 

It is thus with every member of the human race. What one 
lacks, another possesses. This is what makes friendship sweet. 
While we all possess some things in common, we know that all 
are not endowed alike. We find in others strength for our 
weak points, and they find in us good measure for their failings. 

WHAT THE JEWEL NEEDS. 

"Sunday at Home" tells of an opal in a great jewelry store 
concerning which a gentleman remarked : "It has no beauty at 
all." The attendant held the jewel in his hand a few minutes, 
whereupon every particle of it glowed with the splendor of the 



94 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



rainbow. "It only needs the warmth of the human hand," he 
explained, "to bring out its wonderful beauty." 

There are many sad hearts in the world which can be made 
to shine out through eyes now lusterless, simply by the touch 
of friendship. "The warmth of the human hand," with what it 
may supply, has transformed many lives. Withhold not this 
gift from any in need of it within the range of your influence. 

VARYING DEFINITIONS. 

At a social function the conversation drifted to the subject 
of friendship, and an athlete said: 

"In my opinion, a friend is a balancing-pole that enables us 
to walk the tight-rope of life without falling." 

Said a physician: "I believe a friend may be likened to a 
soft bandage and a soothing ointment for the cuts and bruises 
of life." 

"A friend is a golden link in the chain of life," said a jeweler. 

To a botanist it seemed that "a friend is a vine that clings 
to us and hides the discrepancies and rough places of life," to 
which a florist added : "And, yes, the greater the! ruin, the closer 
such a friend clings." 

A woman in mourning responded: "A friend is the one who 
comes in when the whole world goes out." 

"The best friend of all," said a white-haired man of eighty, 1 
\ "is Jesus, who said, 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a 
man lay down his life for his friend.' " 

GAMBLING. 

THE CURSE OF CENTURIES. 

The crime of gambling is no modern thing, but a haggard, 
aged thing that comes staggering down through the centuries 
with the maledictions and curses of ten thousand generations 
upon it. It ruined Greece. It despoiled Carthage. It sacked 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 95 



the Roman Empire. In the days of Rome's decadence everybody 
gambled. While Jesus hung dying upon the cross, the Roman 
soldiers at his feet gambled for his seamless robe, unmindful of 
the fact that the greatest tragedy of the ages was being enacted. 
Gambling is the greatest foe to manhood, industry and honesty 
with which we have to do. It is as fatal to character as Prussic 
acid is to the body. — L. O. Bricker. 

GREAT SUICIDE FACTORY. 

Although the population of Monte Carlo, the famous gam- 
bling resort, is only about four thousand, suicides are so com- 
mon as to attract but little attention. Many who go there and 
lose everything they possess, prefer death to poverty and dis- 
grace. Within a space of a few months sixty-five bodies of those 
who had taken their own lives were carried out of the gardens 
connected with the great Casino. 

It is estimated that four hundred thousand persons annually 
visit there. From the walls of the brilliantly lighted rooms look 
down costly paintings, by French artists. The very air seems 
loaded with suspense as the crowds, strangely quiet, flow in and 
out and around, watching the players. Some win impassively, 
some smile, others grow flushed. Side by side, touching elbows, 
are people of all ranks and countries, "reduced to a common 
level by a common vice," as one writer expresses it. Here may 
be seen sorrow and folly; hope, wild-eyed and haggard; the 
mockery of money, which lightly comes and goes ; despair, too, 
lurking in the dark shadows of self-destruction, where the last 
ray of hope has gone out. 

The money lost in gambling in Monte Carlo, or elsewhere, 
is as nothing compared with the loss of character. It has been 
described by one writer as a tree of slow growth. "Every day of 
good conduct makes it stronger, every folly weakens it. Man 
may lose strength, health, money, but if his character remains, he 
is still a man, and fate can not harm him." 
7 



96 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



GRATITUDE. 

THE ART OF DOUBLING. 

"Set your candle before the looking-glass," said a dear, 
quaint old lady; "you will get almost the light of two candles 
that way." This thought was carried out by a poor sewing- 
woman. Whenever she became the happy possessor of a flower, 
she set it also before her mirror, and thus her eyes had two 
flowers to enjoy. Pleasures shared are doubled. Can we not 
always set our candles before a looking-glass? — A. L. McDowell. 

CHINESE PREACHER'S PARABLE. 

In urging the sacredness of and gratitude for the Lord's 
Day, a Chinese preacher said : "It came to pass that a man went 
to market, having a string of seven large copper coins. [Chinese 
coins are carried on strings, over the shoulder.] Seeing a beggar 
crying for alms, he gave the poor creature six of his seven 
coins. Then the beggar, instead of being grateful, crept up 
behind the man and stole the seventh also. What an abom- 
inable wretch ! Yes, but in saying this you condemn yourselves. 
You receive from the hand of the gracious God six days, yet 
you are not content. The seventh also you steal !" 

THANKS RESCUER OF LONG AGO. 

The press dispatches of May, 1913, told of a young man 
named John Bott who walked into the office of J. J. Butler, 
trainmaster of the Chicago & Alton, thanking him for saving 
his life when he was a baby seventeen years before. "This is 
the first opportunity I've had," said he. 

In 1896, when Mr. Butler was a fireman on the same road, 
he was horrified one morning to see a child standing between 
the rails. The engineer applied the air-brakes, but was unable 
to stop the train in time. Like a flash Butler went through the 
cab window, passed swiftly to the lower step of the pilot, and, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 97 



holding on with one hand, he reached down with the other, 
lifting up the baby out of danger. That baby was John Bott, 
who, as he became older, had a growing feeling of gratitude for 
the one who had rescued him from his perilous position. 

Our hearts go out in admiration of the person who is grateful 
for every blessing and kindness shown. From whence cometh 
life, light, food, clothing, and salvation through Christ from 
the terrors of death? From God, yes. Let's ever live in a 
spirit of gratitude, daily and hourly thanking him for his great 
goodness to us. 

HABIT. 

FELT GREATLY RELIEVED. 

Force of habit leads some persons to ask questions about 
matters concerning which they seem greatly interested, but which 
in reality is not much on their mind. Success tells of such an 
instance : 

"A lady on one of the ocean liners who seemed much afraid 
of icebergs asked the captain what would happen in case of a 
collision with one, to which he replied : 'The iceberg would move 
right along, madam, just as if nothing had happened.' With 
this the lady seemed greatly relieved.''' 

KILLED BY LIOXS IN CAGE. 

Emerson Dietrich, a Cornell graduate, and manager of a 
trained-animal act, met death while with a show in Chicago. 
Notwithstanding a word of warning from his attendant to the 
effect that the beasts were mean that day, Dietrich entered a 
cage of lions to water and clean them, confidently remarking: 
"They would never hurt me in a thousand years." He had 
scarcely closed the door when a lion pounced upon him, quickly 
followed by four others. The attendant was powerless to aid 
him. During the brief but fearful struggle Dietrich cried in 
awful agony: "My God, get me out of here!" Two loads of 



98 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



policemen came in response to a hurried call, but arrived too 
late, for the lions stood triumphant over the trainer's dead, 
bruised, lacerated body. 

This tragic incident reminds one of the boasts of those who 
indulge in hurtful habits: "I will never let them get the best 
of me." 

Sad as was the death of Dietrich and terrible as were the 
lacerations of his body, the enemies of the soul are more to be 
dreaded than the fury of wild beasts. In the seventh Psalm 
are these significant words: "O Jehovah, my God, in thee do I 
take refuge; save me from all them that pursue me, and deliver 
me, lest they tear my soul like a lion, rending it to pieces, while 
there is none to deliver." 

IMMENSE ROCK DYNAMITED. 

For twenty years a great rock, three thousand feet high, 
forming the peak of a mountain overlooking Thormery, France, 
had threatened the destruction of the village, owing to continu- 
ous disintegration at its base, due to the rains. Finally, rather 
than live longer in fear, the citizens made three borings, placed 
in each a charge of dynamite, and blew the towering peak to 
atoms. 

If you have any habit threatening the ruin of your character 
and manhood, destroy it. Do not temporize, but with firm 
resolve and a charge of determination that will not tolerate 
resistance, "blow it to atoms." It is the only safe course. 

THE DELAYED SHIP. 

A vessel loaded with passengers, and ready to sail, had gone 
but a short distance when it began rocking and tossing, finally 
coming to a complete stop, because one of the shore-lines had 
not been unfastened. 

Young people starting out on the sea of life often come to 
a pause in their influence for good. They are clinging to some 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 99 



sinful, hindering habit. Cut the shore-lines, friends — all of them. 
Launch out into the deep of pure, clean living if you would 
reach the "other shore," after awhile. There may be some 
storms on the voyage, but never has a passenger been lost on 
God's good ship of Faith, Hope and Love. 

HATE. 

FEASTS OX PICKLES. 

The papers tell of an Oregon man who has a craving for 
things that are sour, and who eats a quart of dill pickles every 
day. 

This is no more strange than the mental appetite of those 
who feast upon the disagreeable gossip of the neighborhood — 
who seem "soured" on all that is beautiful and sweet in life. 

THE SPITE FENCE. 

On a prominent boulevard in Chicago there stood for many 
years a fence eighteen feet high, erected by a woman who 
imagined her neighbor was peering into her windows. While 
it effectually cut off the inlook, it shut the sunshine out of her 
own yard, ruined the lawn and cast a shadow upon the house. 
Spite and resentment always cast the heaviest shadow over the 
heart that harbors them, and shut out the sunshine of life. — 
Adult Bible Class Monthly. 

TACT BETTER THAN TACKS. 

Somebody strewed thousands of flat-headed tacks along the 
ten miles of road between Oakland and Richmond last Saturday 
night, and dozens of automobile tires were ruined and the 
machines temporarily crippled. It is hard to form a conception 
of the mind and heart of any one mean and hateful enough to 
do such a thing. — San Francisco Daily Paper. 

Any one, however much lacking in intelligence, may go about 
dropping sharp, cutting words, thus making life's pathway much 



100 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



rougher for others who are coming along, but it requires kindly 
tact to make the way smooth again. 

SEVEN TRAINS HELD UP. 

Because a rat gnawed off the insulation of a wire, the entire 
signal system of a railroad line was put out of commission, 
delaying three express and four fast freight trains for half an 
hour, besides inconveniencing many persons and throwing out 
of order other parts of the workings of the big corporation. 

An individual with a nagging, gnawing, biting disposition 
may think the sharp, unkind words are little things, but fre- 
quently they beget widespread discord. The nervous tension 
thus brought about delays work, distresses workers, and fre- 
quently results in bitter misunderstandings before matters are 
adjusted. 

HELPFULNESS, 

WHY THEY DON'T COME. 

; A drowning man who had been struggling in vain to grasp 
the oar a boatman held out to him, gasped : "For mercy's sake, 
give me the wooden end!" The other had been holding to him 
the frozen end, which slipped from his fingers. So, often we 
hold out to sinking souls an oar of ice while we sit in cushioned 
pews with gloved hands, holding on to the warm end. Let us 
learn, like our Master, to go to the publicans and sinners if we 
would have them come to us. — A. B. Simpson, in "Sabbath 
Reading.'' 

A BROTHER'S OVERSIGHT. 

Eight hundred dollars was the amount left by a New York 
man with which to pay the funeral expenses and provide a mon- 
ument for his sister, who survived him. She waived the pro- 
visions of the will, declaring she was in need of food and cloth- 
ing, and asked that the executor pay her $40 a month. 

A sack of flour in the pantry is more cheering to the hungry 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 101 



living than the cultivation of the most beautiful flowers in all 
the world for the casket. 

DO SOMETHING QUICK. 

Are you almost disgusted with life, little man? 

I'll tell you a wonderful trick. 
It will bring you contentment if anything can — 

"Do something for somebody, quick!" 

Are you awfully tired of play, little girl, 

Weary, discouraged and sick? 
I'll tell you the loveliest game in the world — 

"Do something for somebody, quick!" 

—New York Times, 
DOING, NOT TALKING. 

What mankind is awaiting is the brotherhood of man; 

It's asked for it, and prayed for it, since e'er the world began. 

Men talk of it, they preach of it, from every point of view, 

But those who nobly practice it, their number is but few. 

Why wait until communities resolve to live it out? 

It's just by one's and two's and three's such work is brought about. 

Each one of us has got a world tied up within his breast, 

And what we are and what we do should benefit the rest. 

—Tit-Bits. 

SURPRISE LAKE. 

Near Port Arthur, Western Ontario, is Surprise Lake, only 
an eighth of a mile from Lake Superior, but it is fifteen feet 
above its level. It is half a mile in length and a quarter of a 
mile in width, with neither inlet nor outlet, with neither rise 
nor fall. Local tradition says its bottom has not been 
sounded. ... It suggests a certain type of man. He is a sur- 
prise to himself and to others, in that he has not done more, 
become more. He may in his own estimation lie above the level 
of common humanity. Yet he is only a little lake, out of touch 
with the great sea of human life. He draws not from the mass; 
he gives nothing to men. With great resources, with deep wells 
of thought, with beautiful surroundings, he never rises higher 
than the sources within himself. He never overflows in com- 
passionate sympathy for his fellows. — Rev. Walter H. Bradley. 



102 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



PECULIAR CORNER ON WHEAT. 

John Wilier, of Scarboro Township, had a good crop of 
wheat one year, but did not sell. "Seed wheat will be scarce 
in the spring," said he to his wife. "I'll keep it till then." One 
day in April a man called on him who wanted to buy a load, and 
said he had the money to pay for it. Mr. Wilier was thoughtful 
a moment, then replied : "I'm glad you told me. Lots of my 
neighbors need seed, this spring, and haven't the cash to pay 
for it. If they can't get it on credit, they can't get it at all, and 
I want to help them out. So you just drive on into town. 
You'll find plenty there." — Youth's Companion. 

MADE POOR EXCHANGE. 

After spending twenty-three years of his life, and $185,000 
in money, in a lawsuit, a New York man was awarded $48,000. 
He not only received but little over a fourth as much as he 
spent, but suffered the greater loss of wasted years, nerve force 
and peace of mind which naturally accompany such a transaction. 

And yet he was no more foolish than tens of thousands who 
never had a case in court. In other ways they selfishly spend 
time, money, strength and thought for things which not only 
fail to bring an equivalent, but leave them in a far worse con- 
dition than if they had not indulged, not to mention the great 
satisfaction that would have come along the joy-producing line 
of helpfulness to others. 

THE GOLDEN RULE MAYOR. 

Samuel M. Jones, who was three times elected mayor of 
Toledo, Ohio, had as his political platform the Golden Rule. 
Prior to his political career he made much money in oil fields 
and by the manufacture of his inventions. Here he developed 
the theory that the only rule needed to regulate a man's dealings 
with his employes and associates in business was the Golden 
Rule. He copied it from the Bible, posted it in his factory and 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 103 



lived by it. He would have no other. He paid his men gen- 
erous wages, and required them to work but eight hours a day. 
He had no strikes nor labor troubles. 

His successful application, on such a large scale, of this 
teaching of Christ as to one's relation to others, proves it would 
be a practical world-wide solution of all problems growing out 
of the relations of capital and labor. 

HOME. 

POVERTY LETS LOVE IN. 

One evening soon after a man of wealth had lost his riches, 
and the servants had necessarily been discharged, he went into 
the nursery of his home after a day of worry. His little girl 
climbed up on his knee, and, with her arms around his neck, 
said feelingly: "Papa, don't get rich again. You didn't come in 
here when you were rich, but now we can come around you and 
get on your knee and kiss you. Don't get rich, papa." — Sabbath 
Reading. 

BACK OF THE BOY. 

An elderly lady was commending a certain boy, saying she 
was sure he must have a good home, with the right kind of 
mother and sisters. A young lady who was listening inquired 
upon what she based her opinion, not knowing him. 

"Upon his own conduct — his easy bearing, his natural 
courtesy and manliness," was the prompt reply. 

The young lady became more thoughtful, finally remarking: 

"Well, if folks are likely to judge our home and me by the 
way Ned acts, I'm going to be very careful after this." 

HIS BROTHER'S PICTURE. 

A tramp witnessed a moving-picture show in one of the 
Pacific Coast cities, and was startled when he saw the picture 
of a brother in a parade in his old home town, on the Atlantic 



104 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



Coast. A feeling of homesickness came over him, and he wrote 
back to his loved ones so far away, telling of his own circum- 
stances. 

The greatest power within the grasp of parents is to make 
the home life so wholesome and joyous that the memory of 
happy childhood days may come to wayward sons or daughters, 
even in distant climes, with such appealing force as to once more 
turn their thoughts, desires and actions into better channels. 
It is related that a gambler in China was so touched by one of 
the men at the table whistling a song the other had often heard 
his mother sing that he straightway gave up gambling and turned 
over a new leaf. 

HONOR. 

A TITLE FOR SALE. 

A Frenchman wants to sell his decayed title of duke, and 
hopes some rich American may buy. It would not be surpris- 
ing if he should succeed. The newly rich American is apt to 
buy anything except common sense. He couldn't buy that if he 
would, and wouldn't if he could. Common sense is common, and 
therefore to be despised. . . . The most honorable title any Amer- 
ican can attain is that of gentleman, and he need not go to 
France to get it, and he needs no money to buy it. — Charles 
Grant Miller. 

COULD NOT BE BOUGHT. 

It is' related of George F. Baer that, soon after he began the 
practice of law, he was called to the office of a business man 
and listened to a proposition which he flatly turned down, 
because a moral principle was involved. The incident remained 
a secret for some years, but was finally disclosed by the busi- 
ness man to some associates, whose interests required a man 
who could not be bought. They selected Mr. Baer, and the 
business connection which he then established subsequently 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 105 



placed him at the head of the Reading Railroad. The man who 
has no price except that fixed by honesty and honor, is to-day 
sought by big interests as well as by his fellows. He is the man 
to be trusted and the man who, when trusted, proves worthy, 
and merits real success in life. — Grit. 

ANSWER OF A SLAVE-BOY. 

Many years ago a colored boy was offered for sale at a 
slave market, says the Lutheran World, when one of the by- 
standers, moved with compassion and impressed with the lad's 
appearance, wished that he might keep him from falling into the 
hands of some cruel master. Going to the little black fellow, he 
said: 

"Will you be honest if I buy you?" 

With an indescribable look upon his frank face, the boy 
replied : 

"I will be honest whether you buy me or not" 
The person possessed of real honor lays down no condition 
for living honestly. 

SECRET NAVAL CODE-BOOKS. 

In addition to the regular "wig-wag" signals in daily use in 
the United States Navy, is a code of signals to be used solely 
in time of war and in the presence of an enemy. These secret 
code-books are given only to the executive officers of a ship, 
and are bound in heavy metal covers, that in time of threatened 
capture they may be thrown overboard, sinking at once to the 
bottom of the sea. Under no conditions must the books be sur- 
rendered to the enemy. 

In addition to the ordinary helps for all in the daily walk 
of life — sunshine, water and food — there is another source of 
power for use in emergencies, when unusual danger or tempta- 
tion confronts one. This code of the spiritual life is given only 
to those who sustain the right relation, through faith, to the 



106 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



Ruler of land and sea. Back through the ages the persecutors 
have marveled at the soul-strength of the persecuted, seeing 
them bear up bravely and calmly under every conceivable form 
of torture, surrendering life itself rather than their faith in 
Christ as the Captain of their salvation. 

HONESTY. 

HOW! IT HAPPENED. 

We should not condemn in others what we practice ourselves. 

Grocer — You sent me only twelve ounces of steak, when I 
ordered a pound. 

Butcher — Well, I'll tell you how it happened. I lost my 
pound weight, and so used the pound packet of tea received 
from your store. 

EASILY EXPLAINED. 

The honest person does not care whether he is being watched 
or not. The New York Times tells of a man who asked his 
chauffeur, whom he had given some special work to do, "How 
is it I never find you at work when I come out here?" 

"Well, sir," replied Joe, seriously, "I guess it's on account of 
those rubber heels you're wearing now." 

HURTFUL TESTIMONY. 

There are individuals who would scorn to make an open 
charge against another of some wrong, who leave room for all 
sorts of suspicions, by insinuating remarks. Joel Chandler 
Harris used to tell of a colored man charged with stealing 
chickens, and of the pastor of a negro church who was put on 
the stand as a witness. 

"Do you think that Lucius Jackson would steal a chicken?" 
he was asked point-blank. 

"I wouldn't want to say nothin' like dat," he slowly replied, 
"but I will say jes' dis, Jedge: Dat if I was a chicken and 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 107 



Brudder Jackson were anywhar' aroun', I'd roost mighty high, 
sah !" 

FORCED TO KEEP PROMISE. 

One of Abraham Lincoln's callers induced a son of the great 
man to come to him by offering him his watch-charm. When 
the visitor was ready to leave, Mr. Lincoln reminded him of his 
promise to the boy. The man protested: "I can not. I prize it 
as an heirloom." "Give it to him," said the host, sternly. "I 
should not want him to know I entertained one who had no 
regard for his word." The caller removed the charm and 
handed it to the boy, having learned a valuable lesson. 

THE SHOT MISSED HIM. 

A colored man in Virginia sold a turkey to a white man, and 
guaranteed the fowl to be domestic and corn-fed. A few days 
later the purchaser met him and remarked: 

"Sambo, you told me that turkey was domestic and corn-fed, 
but when eating it I found a shot in the meat." 

"Well, sah," said the negro, scratching his head in perplexity, 
"I'se g'wine to be hones' wif you, sah. Dat shot, sah, was meant 
fo' me — dat's how it was !" 

SALTING MINES. 

In the pioneer days it was not uncommon for unprincipled 
men to "salt" practically worthless mines for the purpose of 
selling the same outright, or to sell shares. Among the methods 
used were mixing good ore with low-grade blastings; loading a 
rifle with real nuggets and discharging them into a soft ledge, 
penetrating sufficiently to deceive the unsuspecting; mixing rich 
ore with concrete and secreted in the tunnel in place of a worth- 
less ledge which had been removed. 

In making friends beware of "salted" characters — those who 
seem very anxious to impress you with their importance. Don'? 
be in a hurry. Time will give you their real value. 



108 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



HOPE. 

AN IMMENSE ANCHOR. 

"The new White Star liner, 'Britannic,' has an anchor weigh- 
ing sixteen tons," we read. The heft of an anchor is propor- 
tionate to the size of the ship it is to serve. 

You are safe in judging the size of a man, from a character 
standpoint, by the size of his hope in the best things of life. 
A man of small hopes is a little man. He of large hopes is a 
great man. 

HEADS ABOVE THE WATER. 

J In the Southern seas, where big turtles live — powerful enough 
to carry men on their backs — the boys of the shorelands enjoy 
the sport of turtle-riding. When one of the big creatures comes 
near enough the youth leaps astride and instantly places a stick 
under its neck, and, with one hand on either end, to hold its 
head up, leans back for the novel ride. The turtle, in its efforts 
to dive, in the hope of freeing itself, swims rapidly, for it is 
said it can not go under as long as its head is above water. 

As with the turtle, literally, so with men figuratively. We 
can not go down as long as we hold the head up with faith, 
hope and love. It is he who loses hope who goes down beneath 
the waves of doubt and discouragement. 

A BATTLESHIP'S LOSS. 

The anchor of one of the great battleships of the United 
States Navy was lost at cea, and Co Navy Department offered 
$250 for its recovery, realizing that a ship without an anchor 
would be in a perilous position in time of storms. 

When a man loses hope — "the anchor of the soul" — on the 
sea of life, he can not long hold out against the storms that are 
sure to come. During the year 1910 nearly nine thousand persons 
committed suicide in the United States, and on the tomb of the 
vast majority the story could have been told in one word, "Hope- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 109 



lessness." The discouraged ones were adrift without an anchor. 

Who loses hope ? 1 Cor. 15 : 19 : "If in this life only we have 
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." Who has 
hope ? Heb. 6:19: "Which hope we have as an anchor of the 
soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that 
within the veil." 

HUMILITY. 

THE AMARYLLIS. 

Even a good person may have too much self-esteem. It was 
when Job said, "I abhor myself," that God gave him twice as 
much wealth as he had ever possessed before. In some forms 
of plant life, as the amaryllis, the foliage must die before the 
flowers of beauty can come forth. 

BEST TEST OF GREATNESS. 

After John Quincy Adams retired from the Presidency he 
served for seventeen years in the lower house of Congress. 
When James Madison completed his eight years in the Presi- 
dential chair, he retired to his Virginia plantation, and filled the 
office of justice of the peace. 

If you have been honored by being chosen to serve a term or 
two at the head of any organization, do not hesitate to accept 
the appointment on some committee after your term of office 
has expired. He who possesses genuine humility never feels 
above doing helpful things. This is the best test of a great soul. 

HIS GREATEST VICTORY. 

When news reached Lincoln that Lee had surrendered and 
the officials began to make preparations to enter Richmond, the 
President put his foot down and said: "There shall be no tri- 
umphant entry into Richmond. There shall be no demonstration 
just now." He made his way to Richmond, walked through the 
city to the Southern Capitol, and went to Jefferson Davis' room. 



110 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



He bade his two officials step aside and leave him alone. After 
a few minutes, one of them, out of curiosity, looked to see what 
had taken place, and there sat Lincoln, his head bowed on Mr. 
Davis' desk, his face in his hands and his tears falling. The 
angels of God never looked down from the battlements of 
heaven upon a holier scene than that. His great, sympathetic 
heart saved the republic. That was the greatest victory of the 
Civil War; that settled the struggle; that bound the North and 
South together, and Abraham Lincoln, like his great Master, 
died of a broken heart. It burst with sympathy. — Cortland 
Myers. 

HYPOCRISY. 

PLENTY OF ROOM. 

Spurgeon promptly replied to a man who excused himself 
from attendance at church on the ground that one found so 
many hypocrites there : 

"Don't let that keep you away. There's always room for 
one more." 

OWL WITH TWO HEADS. 

The papers reported the arrival of a two-headed owl on a 
steamer which entered New York harbor, and that its tones 
resembled the noise of a whistling buoy. The sound from each 
throat, however, was pitched in a different key. 

The difference between this two-faced creature and two-faced 
people — who talk one way to a person's face and another to his 
back — is that the owl couldn't help it, and was not conscious of 
committing any wrong. 

AGED COUNTERFEITER. 

"An old man was caught in the act of casting a five-dollar 
gold piece, and placed under arrest by Federal officers." Similar 
items frequently appear in the papers. The United States Gov- 
ernment spends large sums in detecting and punishing counter- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 



111 



feiters, in order that the money circulation of our country may 
be kept as pure as possible. 

This is commendable, but not until as much care is taken to 
keep our citizens pure and genuine will the just proportion of 
things of real importance in American life be attained. 

A BOY'S "COTTON MAN." 

A Southern lad who had seen a snowman in New England, 
wanted one like it. This he found impossible in his sunny 
Southern home, so he made a cotton man from raw cotton fresh 
from the field. We can imagine his disappointment, however, in 
the knowledge that it wasn't a snowman, after all. At a distance 
it looked just like one, but to all who came close enough the 
substitution was easily detected. 

Those who are simply imitators appear all right at a dis- 
tance, but a close acquaintanceship shows their life to be but an 
empty pretense. 

CAUGHT IN THE ACT. 

Wishing to make a favorable impression upon one whom he 
supposed was a man of prominence who had just stepped into 
his outer office — the door being ajar — a young attorney hastily 
took down the telephone receiver, and in a loud tone pretended 
to be talking to some one about an important case he was com- 
pelled to turn down because of lack of time, "being so crowded 
with business." His chagrin was pitiful when he turned to greet 
the caller, who introduced himself as Mr. Young. "I'm from 
the telephone company," he continued, "and I've come to connect 
up your phone!" — Sunday School Journal. 

IN NEED OF RETOUCHING. 

Most persons "fix up" when they are to have their pictures 
taken. The photographer tells them to "look pleasant." Are we 
ashamed to appear as we really are? Take a good look at your 
favorite picture and ask yourself: "Does that do me justice? Or 
8 



112 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



does it misrepresent me?" If you are not good-looking, 
"retouch" yourself, not the picture. You can bring yourself up 
to that standard, and it is your duty to do it. Be ashamed to be 
ugly, when, by posing, you can get a good-looking picture. Make 
the pose a habit, a reality. Be your best, and you will always 
look your best. — A Passing Preacher. 

HAD TOO MANY NAMES. 

Four hundred years ago, according to the Baltimore News, 
the people of England, except persons of royal rank, were 
not allowed a middle name. There was one instance of a man 
who was hanged because he insisted on signing four names every 
time he wrote his signature. 

Had the laws of all countries and ages been as strict against 
wearing two different "faces" on occasions, suiting hypocritical 
purposes, as England's law against having two given names, 
there would undoubtedly have been many less instances of 
double-dealing disgracing the pages of history. 

A HEART OF CHARCOAL. 

A tree six feet in diameter cut down in Oregon was found 
to contain a heart of charcoal two feet in thickness, and extend- 
ing upward from the 1 ground a distance of fifteen feet — probably 
all that was left of a former tree at the time of some great forest 
fire, and around which another had grown. Outwardly it made 
a good appearance, but when the time came for making it into 
lumber it fell short of the estimated output, based upon its size. 

Let's make sure our hearts are right, that we may not fall 
short of the service expected of us. Let's be all we appear to be. 

COULDN'T DECEIVE THE BOY. 

"You needn't be afraid of him! He won't bite you!" called 
out a boy to a man on the sidewalk, who had suddenly jumped 
to one side as a barking dog stopped pulling a lawn-mower to 
which the boy had hitched him. "No, he wouldn't hurt you a 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 113 



bit," continued the lad; "he* just stops and growls at folks going 
along to keep from making this go. You know it's lots easier 
barking than working." 

As the man proceeded on his way he mused: 

"How much like human beings — easier to bark than work; 
to find fault than to help those who are doing their best to keep 
things going right." 

HOODWINKING WILD ANIMALS. 

In order to be successful in taking moving pictures of wild 
animals in their native haunts in the Soudan, a party of London 
hunters equipped themselves with two imitation ostriches and a 
sham giraffe. "These will be used to cover the heads of the 
cinematograph operators," explains the Daily Mirror, '.'who will 
thus be enabled to approach nearer the genuine animals than 
they could possibly do in the ordinary way. The imitations 
appear so realistic that they would delude the most wary of wild 
beasts into believing their relatives had come to visit them." 

In the human relations of life, be on your guard against those 
who pose for what they are not. In the language of Job, "They 
conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, and their heart pre- 
pareth deceit." 

REAL AND FALSE MONEY. 

Men take great risks to counterfeit money, because it is the 
basis of material values. For the same reason the United 
States Government takes every possible precaution to guard 
against counterfeiting, among other things placing red and blue 
silk fibers in every piece of paper money turned out. 

Of more value than money is Christian character. That's 
why there are so many counterfeiters in this regard — so many 
who try to pass for what they are not. The genuine man or 
woman may be known, not only by the red and blue fibers of 
Sacrifice and Courage, but by the golden thread of Love running 



114 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



through every act, every day of life, for Christ himself said: 
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have 
love one for another." Even though he profess love for his 
fellows, the hypocrite may be easily detected at some point in 
the further test given in Gal. 5 : 22 : "But the fruit of the Spirit 
is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
meekness, temperance." 

WHY THE WALLS WERE WEAK. 

When the repairs on the foundation of the great cathedral 
at Winchester, England, were made it was found that fraud had 
been perpetrated by the builders who erected it nearly a thou- 
sand years before. Instead of excavating to solid rock, they 
went only a depth of ten feet, and laid a foundation of logs in 
the mud. This accounted for the tendency of the building 
throughout the centuries to sink, first in one place and then in 
another. The dishonesty of the contractors was a long time 
being brought to light, but the results were manifested almost 
from the date the cathedral was completed. 

The dishonest practices of men may be hidden for a time, 
but the visible effect upon their own characters is not long 
delayed. 

MUST ALWAYS WEAR MASK. 

The face of a New York man was so disfigured by an explo- 
sion of nitric acid, in 1912, that every one who saw him was 
either terrified or repelled. Because of his frightful appearance, 
his physicians informed him that he must wear a mask as long 
as he lived. For awhile it was difficult for him to obtain work, 
as the mask made people feel so queer that they disliked to have 
him around. 

Unfortunate as it is to have the face disfigured, it is a small 
matter compared with a disfigured conscience, "seared as with 
a hot iron" (1 Tim. 4:2), "for a double-minded man is unstable 
in all his ways." If some object to having a man around who 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 115 



wears a visible mask because it makes them feel "queer," all 
honorable persons should be so aroused against those who wear 
the mask of hypocrisy as to say with the Psalmist : "He that 
worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth 
lies shall not tarry in my sight." 

INDEPENDENCE. 

VERY FORGETFUL. 

It is well to be independent, in certain ways, but he who 
pretends to be so will often find it a game at which two can 
play. 

"Dear Clara," wrote a young man, "pardon me for asking. 
I proposed to you last night, but have really forgotten whether 
you said yes or no." 

"Dear Will," was the reply, "I remember that I said 'No' to 
some one last night, but have forgotten just who it was." — 
London Opinion. 

TOWER FOR A PUSH-CART. 

A Los Angeles business man, says Popular Mechanics, made 
his start in life with an old push-cart, selling hot tamales. He 
became well-to-do and erected a building with an open tower, 
placing the cart there, where all passers-by could see it. At one 
time, when fire threatened the structure, the first thing he ordered 
removed was the odd vehicle. 

In his days of prosperity he was proud of the reminder of 
his days of poverty. By the strange workings of society many 
are ashamed to let it be known they were ever in humble cir- 
cumstances. They seek to impress others with the idea that 
they never had to work. They overlook the splendid fact that 
the man who has made all he possesses deserves great credit 
because of his industry, patience, self-denial and good judgment, 
while the one who simply lives on what some one else has made, 
and is doing nothing to enrich the world, is a human parasite. 



116 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



MANY YEARS A HOME PRISONER. 

Because a dashing young officer of the Royal Guards broke 
his engagement to her and married another, relates a London 
weekly, an eccentric woman at Stockholm lived as a prisoner 
in her own home up to the time of her death, in 1914. Her 
parents were not living, so she had sole control of her own 
affairs. She was so sorely disappointed that she never went out. 
For over seventy years she saw no other human beings than her 
servants, and of course had never seen trains, steamships, street- 
cars nor airships. 

This is an instance of the lack of a degree of independence 
which every normal man and woman should manifest. None 
have a right to willfully rob the world of the good they might 
do in the use of the talents God has given them. 

INFLUENCE. 

ACCORDING TO YOU. 

You are writing a gospel, a chapter each day, 
By deeds that you do, by words that you say. 
Men read what you write, whether faithless or true. 
Say! What is the gospel according to you? 

— The Lookout. 

SOMETHING LACKING. 

"I don't see why that man doesn't have more influence- on 
his class of boys," said one speaker, of a teacher. "He gives 
them such beautiful talks." "The talks are well enough, but they 
make me think of a postage-stamp without mucilage — nothing 
back of them to make them stick." — Sunday School Times. 

THE EMPTY HOUSE. 

"An empty house at night is darker than no house at all," 
said a father to his son, who had called attention to a dark spot 
ahead, as they were going along a country road at night. The 
lights from some lives shine on the pathway of men and make 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 



117 



the way easier; but all that some others contribute to men is 
intensified darkness in a darkened world. — Fred W. Church. 

MIGHT MEAN EITHER. 

About the only reason for continuing some old sayings is 
that they are old. For instance, "A man is known by the com- 
pany he keeps." 

"Well," says an inquisitive person, who likes to be sure of 
things, "if a good man and a bad man go around together, is 
the good man bad, or is the bad man good?" 

MORE THAN CONQUEROR. 

Visiting her son, who was away attending college, a Chris- 
tian woman saw in his room things that grieved her. She 
quietly purchased Hoffman's beautiful picture of Christ, and 
hung it on the wall. Months after she visited him again, and 
said: "William, you have made some changes in your room 
since I was here." Looking up to the pictured face, he said: 
"Mother, those things wouldn't fit in with Him." — Rev. W. J. 
Hart. 

TESTIMONY OF ASSOCIATES. 

In a cemetery, on a pure white stone which marked the grave 
of a dear little girl, were these words: "A child of whom her 
playmates said, 'It is easier to be good when she is with us.' " 

A young man wrote to a friend who had moved away: "It 
is much easier for me to do right when you are around. If I 
could work with you, I could plow in a field of stumps with a 
stubborn mule team without swearing." 

WHEN THE TREE FELL IN MUD. 

While visiting in northern Idaho, the writer witnessed some 
woodsmen fell a great cedar-tree. A contrary breeze caused it 
to fall in a swampy place. As it struck, mud was thrown in 
every direction, striking all who were near. We thought, how 



118 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



like the fall of a church-member ! When he goes down into 
sin, the mud of iniquity is thrown upon all who are connected 
with him. His bad marks go as far as his influence reaches. — 
Church and School. 

QUAINT REQUEST OF GOOD MAN. 

Eli Josiah Brand, who died in England, leaving a fortune of 
over $200,000, had some positive convictions, and made some 
quaint provisions in his will, one of which was that two guineas 
should be paid each year to the preacher of a sermon against 
betting, gambling, intemperance and the inordinate love of 
pleasure. 

The real character of men and women is no more definitely 
set forth by the way they spend their money while living than 
by the provision they make for its expenditure after they have 
passed away. 

NAIL CAUSES SHIPWRECK. 

It is on record that a single ten-penny nail in the compass- 
box once wrecked a ship, by so deflecting the needle that in 
steering by it the vessel was dashed upon the rocks. 

Permit no evil thought, however small, to find lodgment in 
the compass-box of conscience. What seems a trifle at first may 
lead to an entirely different course from what you contemplated. 
It may mean shipwreck of all the fondest, purest hopes which 
now beckon you in the days of youth. 

REFLECTED IN THE WATER. 

At Canton, Ohio, is a granite monument 108 feet high and 
seventy-nine feet in diameter, erected to the memory of the 
beloved William McKinley, formerly President of the United 
States. In front of it is a basin, or artificial lake, more than 
five hundred feet long, in which the monument in all its beautiful 
outlines is reflected. 

Each of us is erecting a monument in the character we are 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 119 



building, and just in proportion as we make it beautiful or ugly 
will it be reflected in the lives of those with whom we come in 
contact. 

SELF-QUESTIONING. 

There may be paths that I can tread in safety, 

Unharmed by dangers close on every hand; 
Yet weaker ones, emboldened by my going, 

May fail and falter where I firmly stand. 
I must not merely ask if I myself, uninjured, 

This place of careless mirth may enter in, 
But, "What of its effect on lives less guarded?" 

And, "Will it cause some weaker one to sin?" 

— Mattie M. Boteler. 

NOVEL TIMEKEEPER. 

An attachment for pipe-organs in churches, connecting by a 
switch with the bass pedals, flashes a light in front in perfect 
time with the playing of the organist, thus "beating the time" 
for the congregation, although his movements may not be seen. 

If you are endeavoring to "play the organ of life" to the best 
of your ability, don't worry if your actions are not paraded 
before the public. Your influence will go out just the same, 
your light shining in a way that may mean hundreds, perhaps 
thousands, of others "keeping correct time" in the song of life. 

NOT THE MUCH OR THE LITTLE. 

"She hath done what she could," said the Master, "for me;" 

How tender and sweet was the word! 
"And the deed she has done her memory shall be, 

Wherever my gospel is heard." 

Ah! 'tis this that must try every deed that we do 

Ere Jesus pronounces it good; 
Not the thing we have done, but the love it may show, 

And whether we've done what we could. 

— Philadelphia Ledger. 

HORSE BLOCKADES BUSY STREET. 

On Forty-second Street in New York City, where the ground 
had been torn up for repairs on the subway, leaving only the two 
car-tracks free for a space of perhaps twenty feet, a balky horse 



120 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



stopped, with the wagon attached, in such a position as to block 
all traffic for a quarter of an hour. 

If balky people only hindered themselves, it would not be so 
bad. They are so often chairmen of committees; or the able 
men of a church; or gifted women, who will not help because 
they do not feel just like it. . . . No one respects a balky horse. 
— Rev. C. B. McAfee, D.D. 

FIREFLIES AS FLASHLIGHTS. 

Travelers in Mexico are often impressed by the remarkable 
fireflies of that country. The insects congregate by thousands 
in forest trees, and, as if by preconcerted agreement, simul- 
taneously flash their lights, then darken them and flash again. 
Their united efforts make a brilliant and beautiful sight, while 
the light of only one would be comparatively insignificant. 

How like human beings! We often feel that our small part 
is hardly worth the effort, but, working in unison with many 
others, the light of our influence may shine upon countless lives. 

THE ANCESTOR OF SCORES. 

When a New Jersey woman celebrated her ninety-fourth 
birthday she had 112 living children, grandchildren, great-grand- 
children and great-great-grandchildren. 

It has been said that we "live in the hearts of those who love 
us." Thus, whether or not you have even one descendant in the 
flesh, it is possible to exert a greater influence than if you 
should have many. It is your privilege to so live that your mem- 
ory may be cherished in love by all who know you because of 
your good influence upon their lives, and of the new-born hope 
you implanted. 

A DELIGHT TO THOUSANDS. 

One spring a lady who loved flowers carried with her on a 
trip to the South a quantity of choice seeds, and scattered them 
along the way. Now the passengers who travel over that rail- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 121 



way line are delighted for miles and miles to see masses of 
gorgeous poppies. If some one had scattered thistles instead, 
how different the result would have been! Jesus sowed seeds 
of love and helpfulness, and the flowers of happiness have been 
springing up ever since. Whether we intend to do so or not, 
we, too, are sowing some sort of seeds every day. And our 
pathway through life is either being marked by flowers of hap- 
piness and helpfulness, or thistles of unkindness and unhappi- 
ness. — Mrs. B. D. Hageman. 

THREE MONTHS A MISSIONARY. 

Thomas Hannay, the converted cowboy, became field secre- 
tary of the California Christian Endeavor Union, winning the 
love and confidence of the young people of the Pacific Coast, 
Finally he went as a missionary to British East Africa, and 
passed away at Kajabe, February 7, 1914, after having been on 
the field a little more than three months. Looked at from an 
isolated standpoint, it might seem that his sacrifice was practi- 
cally in vain. But within a few months from the time the news 
reached California, scores, yes, several hundred, young men and 
women of the Golden State, influenced and impressed by his 
life, his faith and his death, offered themselves for foreign mis- 
sionary service. Truly "God moves in a mysterious way his 
wonders to perform." 

PAID TO BE KILLED. 

The Daily Citizen tells of an old man at Berwick, Pennsyl- 
vania, who hired another to kill him, as he was tired of life. He 
considered it an unpardonable sin for a person to take his own 
life. After his dead body had been discovered, letters were 
found telling of the queer compact, and beseeching the police not 
to search for the murderer. 

One can not help but feel that the old man, instead of being 
guiltless of crime, as he apparently supposed, was guilty of a 



122 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



double wrong — the causing of his own death and inducing 
another to become a criminal. Any wrong we commit must be 
judged, not alone by the effect it has upon us, but upon others 
as well. 

AN INVISIBLE CLOCK. 

A public clock which can be heard, but not seen, as it chimes 
the quarters and the hours, is one of London's curious posses- 
sions, says Spare Moments. It is in the tower of St. Mary 
Abbott's Church, Kensington, and is the only public timepiece 
in the neighborhood. When the tower was built in 1879 the 
architect objected to a clock with a face, as it would spoil the 
cherished proportions. A compromise was effected by installing 
the interior workings of a great clock in the belfry, so, while 
it can not be seen, it keeps time just the same, sounding it out 
for all the people in that part of the city. 

Whether you occupy a conspicuous place or not, keep "cor- 
rect time." Strike true, that all around you may be helped by 
your influence. 

POWER OF AN IDEA. 

We should be careful, in discussing wrongs, lest we present 
them in such a manner as to suggest evil instead of good, 
especially to younger persons who may be among the hearers. 
A Pole on his way to St. Petersburg met a thought-reader and 
offered to pay him a certain sum if he could divine the other's 
thoughts. Here is what he told him: 

"You are going to the fair, where you intend to purchase 
goods, after which you will declare yourself bankrupt, and com- 
pound with your creditors for three per cent." 

The Pole gazed at him in surprise and paid the amount prom- 
ised. The thought-reader asked triumphantly: 

"So I've guessed correctly?" 

"No," was the answer, "but you have given me a brilliant 
idea." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 123 



MAGNETIZED SCHOOLROOMS. 

Experiments by Professor Arrhenius, of Stockholm, seem to 
add one more wonderful work to the credit of electricity. He 
took two sets of fifty children each, of the same age and general 
physical condition, and placed one set in an ordinary schoolroom ; 
the other, in a room the walls of which contained wires bearing 
continuous high-frequency alternating currents. At the end of 
six months the fifty children in this room had added an average 
of two inches to their height, and made an average of more than 
ninety per cent, in their studies, while those in the ordinary room 
gained a trifle more than an inch and a sixth in height, and made 
an average of only seventy-five per cent, in their studies. — San 
Francisco Examiner. 

The difference in the moral and spiritual influence upon chil- 
dren in homes and schools where the atmosphere is charged with 
all that is pure and uplifting, and where such influences are 
lacking, is even more marked than the difference in the physical 
and mental attainments above mentioned. 

AS GROWS THE TREE. 

The way of the weaving of human influence exerted by many 
different personalities, working together for the accomplishing 
of one purpose, is beautifully pictured in a letter written by Dr. 
F. A. Horton, of Philadelphia, in March, 1903, which was read 
at an anniversary of the First Presbyterian Church in Oakland, 
California, where he had formerly served as pastor: 

"Many whom my memory places there are now removed or 
translated. Many whom I never saw, fill the vacant places. But, 
then or there, it is the old church still. The living entity is not 
in men and women, as individuals, but as merged by heavenly 
act into one whole, so that, however men may come and go, they 
fill their little round, like the leaves of a season, then fall, while 
the tree lives on. I greatly rejoice that, could human skill trace 
it, a Horton fiber would be found running side by side with an 



124 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



Eell, a Sprecher, a Coyie, a Baker, and others who have pre- 
ceded and others who shall follow, all woven by the hand of 
God into a tree of strength and beauty and usefulness." 

A CONTINUING LIFE. 

Fifty years ago a young man took charge of an academy in 
a small town in Maine. Three years later, at the beginning of 
the Civil War, he left his work as a teacher to enter the Union 
Army, and was killed in one of the battles. Near the close of 
the half-century from the time the young man departed from 
the school, one of his pupils sought to find how many of those 
he had taught were still living. She received letters from about 
a hundred, engaged in various callings, each telling how, in 
different ways, they owed much of what they valued most in 
their lives to the teacher who died so long ago. Fifty of them 
gathered on the very ground where the academy once stood, and 
in memory revived the old days of such precious influence. 
They placed there, under a big elm which he had planted, a 
boulder with his name and an inscription upon it. The tree was 
indeed a fitting monument. As the teacher had determined the 
place for the tree and assured its life, so he had been an impor- 
tant factor in determining the character and service of every 
one in that company. So, friend, may your influence be, if you 
will it thus. 

THE BROKEN VASE. 

The Biblical Museum tells of a nobleman of dissolute habits 
who visited the famous Wedgewood potteries, and, in the pres- 
ence of a lad who worked there, spoke contemptuously of 
religion. The boy, who was the son of pious parents, at first 
looked amazed, then interested, and at last burst into a loud, 
jeering laugh. The owner of the potteries, who was a devout 
Christian, a little later showed the visitor a wonderful vase, 
explaining the process of making. The nobleman expressed his 
delight, and, just as he reached for it, the potter threw it down, 



I 

FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 125 



shattering it to pieces. The stranger rebuked him for his care- 
lessness, saying he wished to take it home for his collection. 
Mr. Wedgewood replied: 

"Do you forget, my lord, that the soul of that lad who just 
left us came innocent into the world: that parents, friends, all 
good influences, have been at work during his whole life to 
make him a vessel lit for the Master's use; that you, with your 
touch, have undone the work of years? Xo human hand can 
bind together again what you have broken." 

The nobleman stared at him in silence, then said: 
"You are an honest man," frankly holding out his hand. "I 
never thought of the effect of my words." 

INGENUITY. 

MIKE'S GUESS. 

We may smile at the blunders of persons who always pretend 
to know something about everything that comes up, but often- 
times there is cause for admiring their ingenuity. The proprietor 
of a lumber-yard had a new hand, and wondered what kind of 
an impression he would make for the good of business if left 
alone at times, and if some new condition should arise, so went 
out, telling Mike he would be gone for an hour. 

After a time he called him up on the phone, and, disguising 
his voice, said : 

"Send me one thousand knot-holes this afternoon. I live 
at—" 

"Sorry, soire, but we are out av thim. Jist sold thim to the 
brewery." 

"To the brewery." repeated the man, much perplexed; "what 
does the brewery want of knot-holes?" 

"Faith, an' Oi didn't ask thim," replied Mike, perfectly com- 
posed, "but it's plain to be seen, soire, that they need thim fur 
bung-holes in the barrels. So long, soire!" 



126 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



SWINGING WATER TO COOL IT. 

The native women of Central America make water cool for 
drinking purposes by swinging it vigorously through the air, in 
earthen or clay jars, fastened at the neck to two straps. The 
movement is so swift that no water drops out, just as is the case 
when a boy swings a pail of water over his head. It is hard 
work, but results in making water, which in its ordinary state 
is disagreeable and unfit to drink, almost as deliciously cool as 
if it had been placed on ice. 

Many disagreeable things in life may be made pleasant and 
helpful by the use of a little ingenuity and muscle. 

JESUS. 

INSPIRER OF ALL. . 

And so we have Him, a Galilean carpenter. Not a physician, 
but the master of all human ills. Not a lawyer, but the ex- 
pounder of the elemental principles of all laws. Not an author, 
but the inspirer of the living literature of the world. Not a 
poet or musician, but the soul and inspiration of all song and all 
music. Not an artist, but the unfailing light of the great mas- 
ters, old and new. Not an architect, but the soul-transformer 
and character-builder of all times. Not a statesman, but the 
state and institution founder of the race. And, more wonderful 
than all, a man blameless and unscarred by sin, or taint of 
wrong. — /. Frank Hanly. 

LIVING WORDS. 

Kaiser Wilhelm II., the German Emperor, made a memorable 
address to his sons, the princes August Wilhelm and Oscar, on 
the day of their confirmation. Among many other things he 
said : 

"Your religious teacher has emphasized the idea that you are 
to become 'personalities.' There can be no doubt whatever that 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 127 



our Lord has been the 'most personal personality' that has ever 
wandered about on this earth among the children of men. You 
have read words and sayings of many great men — savants, states- 
men, kings, princes, poets — which ennobled you and even filled 
you with enthusiasm. Xot one of them is to be compared to any 
single word spoken by our Lord. The word of man has never 
been able uniformly to inspire people of all races and of all 
nations to attain the same aim, to endeavor to be like him, and 
even to give their lives for him. This miracle can only be 
explained from the fact that the words he spoke were the words 
from the living God, which awaken life and which remain alive, 
even after a period of many thousands of years, while the words 
of savants are long forgotten." 

Jesus himself said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but 
my words shall not pass away." 

THE CHRIST OF THE ANDES. 

Far up on the heights of the Andes, on the border-line 
between two republics of South America, Chile and Argentina, 
stands a great statue of Christ, with one hand upraised and the 
other clasping a cross. On a bronze tablet at the base are these 
words : 

"Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than Argen- 
tines and Chileans break the peace to which they have pledged 
themselves at the feet of Christ, the Redeemer." 

The monument was cast of old cannon and was erected in 
1904 to commemorate a treaty of peace following a dispute 
verging on war concerning the boundary-line between the two 
countries. The figure of Christ, in bronze, is twenty-six feet in 
height, mounted on a granite base twenty-two feet high. One 
result of the treaty was that within a few years Chile spent 
$10,000,000 on good roads instead of using the money for war- 
ships. 



9 



128 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



JUDGMENT. 

MUST BE FULL WEIGHT. 

In the Bank of England is a machine through which gold 
coins pass for the purpose of determining whether or not they 
are full weight. If any come short of the exact requirement, 
the machine throws them to one side. "Here is a judgment-day 
for you/' said one in speaking of the machine. "There can be 
no partialities nor excusings. The only hope lies in being of 
standard weight." 

EITHER UP OR DOWN. 

Holding in my hand a stone and an inflated toy balloon, I let 
go of both at the same time. One ascends and the other 
descends. They rest only when they find adjustment. If you go 
down, it will be because that is the natural course for such man- 
hood as yours. But on the shores of eternity stands a great 
Father who delights to see men come up to dwell with him. 
You can rise to him if you have received his nature and assimi- 
lated your life to his. Judgment is adjustment. — Homiletic 
Review. 

"ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS." 

During the trial of a case against a shoe-manufacturing com- 
pany, in the United States District Court in Boston, it was 
necessary to explain to the judge the working of the machinery 
and the process of manufacture. Instead of much technical 
testimony, counsel for the defense introduced moving pictures, 
showing every detail. The court expressed great satisfaction 
with the innovation, the presiding judge stating that the pictures 
conveyed a much clearer impression than any amount of verbal 
testimony, and also saved valuable time. 

After awhile, when we stand before the Judge of all the 
world, it will not be what we have to say of ourselves, but what 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 129 



the records reveal of our actions in life. Our deeds rather than 
our words will tell the story. 

THE TRUE RECORD. 

On one occasion a man came to a livery-stable and rented a 
horse and buggy to make a trip of a certain number of miles, 
promising to pay accordingly. He meant to deceive the owner, 
and drove twice as far. The liveryman had placed on the axle 
of the buggy a small instrument to register the revolutions of 
the wheel and the number of miles traveled. He surprised the 
man when he opened the instrument and faced him in his false- 
hood. God has placed in our hearts something that records the 
acts of life, whether they be good or bad, and at the last great 
day, when the books are opened, we shall be forced to look upon 
our own lives, which have been exposed to the gaze of the whole 
world. — W. H. Book, in The Lookout. 

CRIMINALS OUTWITTED. 

Two questionable characters, under arrest on suspicion of 
committing a most sensational murder in a certain city, had 
gone through the "third degree" successfully, and apparently 
would soon be released. The chief of police, however, by the 
aid of a "telo-detective," accomplished what all of the sleuths 
had failed to do. Popular Mechanics tells how it was done: 

"An extremely sensitive transmitter was secreted behind the 
coping on top of the partition separating cell No. 13 from 14, and 
the conversation between Johnson and Bill was produced at the 
receiving end of the circuit, four hundred feet away. The con- 
versation coming to him in easily understood tones, the stenog- 
rapher was able to record it word for word," and thus what 
amounted to a confession was obtained, to the great surprise 
of the suspects. Many similar instances of the use made of the 
telo-detective are on record. 

In Luke 12 : 3 are these words of Christ : "Whatsoever ye 



130 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light, and that 
which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed 
upon the housetops." 

KINDNESS. 

WHEN RIDERS FALL. 

Says a London paper: "A running horse will always try to 
avoid stepping on a fallen rider, and for this reason it is a 
standing order in our cavalry regiments that if a trooper is dis- 
mounted he must lie perfectly still." 

If dumb animals will strive to avoid stepping on a man who 
has fallen, how much more should men and women avoid tram- 
pling on those who have fallen in the battle of life. More than 
this, they should stop and help them up. 

HELPING THE HELPLESS. 

As Lincoln and some friends were out walking one windy 
day they found two birdlings lying on the ground. Lifting them 
up and warming them in his hands, Lincoln went in search of 
their nest, finding it in an apple-tree, in which the parent birds 
were twittering anxiously. He put the tiny creatures carefully 
in the nest. His friends laughed at him, but he only said: "I 
could not have slept to-night if I had not first seen those babies 
safe under their mother's wing." — Selected. 

THE WORKMAN'S RULE. 

In one of Dr. Parkhurst's books he tells of a workman riding 
ill a trolley-car, who observed that as the door was opened and 
shut it squeaked, so he quietly took a little can from his pocket 
and dropped some oil upon the offending spot, saying, as he 
resumed his seat: "I always carry an oil-can, for there are so 
many squeaky things in this world that a little oil will help." 
Dr. Parkhurst applies this to life, saying we can often soften 
attacks and prevent many unpleasant frictions if we always 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 131 

have love, and will speak the gentle, kindly word at the right \ 
time. 

WHY CAR WAS SIDETRACKED. 

A sparrow had built its nest in a freight-car lying in the shop 
for repairs, and when it was ready for service again the mother- 
bird would not desert her young. The sympathy of the train- 
men was touched. They notified the division superintendent, 
who ordered that the car be left out of commission until the 
little birds were able to care for themselves. If a great railroad 
system can be ordered so as to protect helpless sparrows, is it 
hard to believe that the great Superintendent of the universe 
orders all things for the good of his children? — James D. 
Laws on. 

FEARS CONFIRMED. 

One of the best rules in the world is to say nothing about a 
person to others that you would not willingly say to him person- 
ally. They who do otherwise often have cause to regret it. 

Usher, to stranger : "Glad to welcome you, madam. Am 
sorry our pastor was away to-day. You would have heard a 
much abler discourse." 

"I have not the least doubt," was the reply, as the lady made 
a brave effort to smile. "It was my husband who preached here 
this morning. He himself felt that his sermon might be a dis- 
appointment to the congregation." 

THE EXAMPLE THAT COUNTS. 

While holding meetings in Egypt among some soldiers I 
asked a big sergeant in a Highland regiment how he was brought 
to Christ. His answer was : "There is a private in our company 
who was converted in Malta before the regiment came on to 
Egypt. We gave that fellow an awful time. One night he came 
in from sentry duty, very tired and wet, and before going to 
bed he got down to pray. I struck him on the side of his head 



132 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



with my boots, and. he just went on with his prayers. Next 
morning I found my boots beautifully polished by the side of my 
bed. That was his reply to me. It just broke my heart, and I 
was saved that day." — Rev. J. Stuart Holden. 

WHAT SAVED TOMMY. 

Ernest K. Coulter, clerk of the first juvenile court in New 
York City, told the judge he wished to look after a boy who 
had been arrested for "swiping" goods. He went to see the 
boy's mother, and said to her: "I should like to have a little 
brother. I want to come down here and see Tommy every once 
in awhile, and he'll be up to spend an evening at my house each 
week, say. Then, if you don't mind, he and I will go to the 
Hippodrome occasionally; and when the baseball season opens, 
perhaps he'd like to see some of the big games." 

This actually happened less than seven years ago. Tommy 
is now in the assistant paying-teller's cage in a downtown bank. 
And so the Big Brother movement has spread into fifty cities 
of the United States, Canada and Australia. — Rev. Cowan, in 
Christian Endeavor World, January, 1914. 

RIGHT OF WAY FOR SQUIRREL. 

One of the tame squirrels in Boston Common had been in 
the habit of crossing the street, climbing up a fruit-stand to the 
eaves of Park Street Church, then scampering over its roof to 
the elms in the burying-ground, for a good time in the grass 
enclosed by the great iron fence. Once when the little animal 
wanted to return to his home in the busiest time of the day he 
found the street filled with carriages, autos and other vehicles, 
and a steady stream of people coming and going. He hopped as 
far as the curbstone, then turned back, repeating the movement 
several times, panting with fear. A big policeman saw the 
squirrel and his dilemma. The officer stepped out, held up his 
stick, and the people all knew that meant they must halt. A 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 133 



wide-open gap was made from curb to curb. The squirrel saw 
his chance and darted through to the Common. For a full 
minute everybody was standing still so as to let the little squirrel 
get back to his home. — Tarbell's Teachers' Guide. 

THE HORSE KNEW IT. 

In Southern California lived a stage-driver who loved to tell 
his passengers how he cured his horse of bad habits : "The 
meanest horse you ever saw," he said, "but now I wouldn't wish 
for a better one. You see, he had an awful temper; would kick 
and rear, and often bit me. When he acted cranky I would kick 
him and lay on the whip, but it only made things worse. Finally 
I turned over a new leaf. I began praying, and my own family 
didn't rind it out any sooner than that horse. W r hen he began 
to act cranky I would speak kindly to him, and didn't whip him 
nor jerk the lines like I had done before. Well, sir, a more 
puzzled horse you never saw. He would look at me as if he 
couldn't make out what ailed me, and after a little began to act 
as gentle as a kitten. I never have any trouble with him now." 

SURPRISED THE REPORTER. 

During one of his Congressional campaigns Mr. McKinley 
was followed from place to place by a reporter for a paper of 
the opposite political party. One night Mr. McKinley took a 
closed carriage for a near-by town at which he was announced 
to speak. He had not gone far when he heard a cough, and at 
once surmised that the reporter was riding with the driver; for 
he had observed before that the young man was not well and 
was poorly clad. The Major ordered the hack stopped, alighted 
and commanded the reporter to come down. He quickly obeyed, 
thinking the time for the Major's vengeance was at hand. 
"Here," said Mr. McKinley, taking off his overcoat, "you put 
this on and get into the carriage." "But," said the reporter, "I 
guess you don't know who I am. I have been with you in the 



134 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



whole campaign, giving it to you every time you spoke, and I 
am going over to-night to rip you to pieces, if I can." "I know," 
said McKinley, "but you put on this coat, and get inside and get 
warm, so you can do a good job." — The Chautauquan. 



Wrecked and leaking ships, lashed by raging waters, have 
been reached by rescuing parties from other ships, and the 
endangered passengers saved, by the simple process of pouring 
oil on the distressed sea. Popular Mechanics, in commenting 
upon such instances, gives this information : "Few people have 
a clear conception of the almost miraculous effect a small amount 
of oil has on wave-motion. A drop of oil will spread itself over 
seven square feet of water, and nine pints of oil are sufficient 
to cover a square mile of sea surface." 

Many a jangling household, or group of persons in some 
assembly, has been restored to a peaceful calm by one kind word, 
while a whole neighborhood has been made better because of 
some person "going about doing good," scattering the oil of 
gladness on the troubled community. 



The twentieth century witnessed the introducing of jails in 
the upper stories of high buildings, which not only carries out 
one of the principal purposes of imprisonment — that of making 
escape as difficult as possible — but is more humane, as it affords 
an abundance of light and pure air. In the magnificent city hall 
at Oakland, California, prisoners are kept on the twelfth and 
thirteenth floors. 

In the olden times prisoners were confined in dungeons, and 
the more dismal they could be made the better they were sup- 
posed to serve their purpose. When the prophet Jeremiah was 
placed in a dungeon where he sank in the mire, Ebed-melech, 
an Ethiopian, made such an earnest plea before King Zedekiah 




OIL ON TROUBLED WATERS. 



PRISONERS LIVE HIGH. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 135 



in behalf of Jeremiah that he was taken out and placed in the 
court of the guard. 

There should be Ebed-melechs in every community pleading 
for the abolishment of all kinds of cruelties in the treatment of 
prisoners. At the very least, they are entitled to an abundance 
of the sunshine and air with which God has surrounded the 
earth. 

KNOWLEDGE. 

NEW TIE EVERY DAY. 

A Baltimore man has the distinction of wearing a new necktie 
every day — and some days he wears two or three. He gives 
away most of them, but at one time had over five hundred dol- 
lars' worth on hand. He is always very careful to wear one that 
harmonizes with the rest of his clothing. 

Harmony of conduct with the highest possible ideals and the 
acquiring of useful, helpful knowledge every day is far more 
important than this man's hobby. 

IN THE SAFE CHANNEL. 

"Captain, do you know where all the rocks are?" queried a 
passenger on a steamer on the St. Lawrence River, in the bed 
of which are many dangerous places. "No," he replied, "but I 
know where the channel is." 

When you hear any one arguing that it is well to be familiar 
with the places of evil in a community as a warning to leave 
them alone, quote the sensible words of this captain. The impor- 
tant thing is not to know the places of sin and danger, but to 
know the safe channel and follow its course. 

FOUR HUNDRED CENTURIES AGO. 

According to some of the famous Nippur tablets stored at 
the University of Pennsylvania, the children of forty-two hun- 
dred years ago were imparted knowledge in arithmetic, geog- 
raphy, history and grammar just like the children of to-day. 



136 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



The multiplication-tables were found remarkably distinct, plainly 
showing that "three times one are three, and five times one are 
five." 

As in the education of the human mind there are foundation 
principles which never change, so is there in each human heart 
something akin to all other human hearts, for all have the same 
heavenly Father. As God commanded the children of Israel, so 
is the exhortation in Deut. 6 : 5-7 applicable to every one of the 
millions of earth to-day: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 
And these words which I command thee this day shall be in 
thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy 
children." 

THE AGE OF THE EARTH. 

Bible students, who may be censured for not agreeing in 
their chronological deductions, should feel no uneasiness on that 
account. The most thorough research of scientists along many 
lines emphasizes no one thing so much as their astonishing dis- 
agreements. For instance, in the Literary Digest of December 
27, 1913, under the heading, "How Old is the Earth?" the state- 
ment is made that five different methods of reaching conclusions 
have been used, one of which is that of utilizing the saltness of 
the sea. 

"It is assumed that all the sodium chloride in the sea has 
been taken by the rains from the land. ... By this method Joly 
found 95,000,000 of years ; E. von Romer, 160,000,000." 

You will observe there is only a slight difference of 65,000,000 ! 
Then, the method founded on "the disintegration of radio-active 
material" is taken up, the estimates running from 8,000,000 to 
1,025,000,000 years. This time a variation of only 1,017,000,000 
years ! 

These so-called estimates are about as reliable and valuable 
as would be the guesses by children of the number of grains of 
sand in the world. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 137 



LIFE. 

THE PACE THAT KILLS. 

Many people think there is a tremendous lot to be done, and 
that we are the only people on earth who can do it. Christ 
didn't feel that he was indispensable. Frenzied life is nothing 
but infidelity. Nervous prostration on the part of Christ would 
have wrecked the gospel. The pace that kills, even though it 
kills by inches, is suicide just as truly as taking life by a single 
slash of the razor. — Dr. Parkhurst. 

MANY YEARS ON THE SEA. 

The oldest life-boat in existence is the "Zetland," an English 
ship, say9 London Answers. It was built in 1800, and for sixty- 
four years was in active service, during which time it was 
instrumental in saving 526 lives. On her 111th birthday her 
glorious achievements were affectionately recalled, and it was 
said that, if necessary, the good ship could still answer the call 
of duty. 

If there is a feeling of pride in a ship that has been used 
of men for the saving ©f many human lives, how much more 
should we feel proud of men and women who have been used 
of Christ for the saving of many human souls, in the few 
swiftly passing years allotted them; for man moves rapidly 
through the shifting scenes of his earthly career. We often 
feel the force of the words of Job, "My days are passed away 
as the swift ships," and appreciate the warning of Solomon, 
"Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a 
day may bring forth." 

WHERE SPARTANS FAILED. 

Lycurgus, who lived about 900 B. C, succeeded in making the 
Spartans a marvelous race from a physical standpoint, but, over- 
looking the need of all-around development, they weakened and 



138 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



passed from the stage of action after a few hundred years of 
existence. In accordance with the plans of Lycurgus, weak chil- 
dren were killed at birth. Gymnasiums were established in all 
parts of Sparta. For persons from seven to sixty years of age 
the drill was perpetual. The work was done by slaves of another 
race. Males were not called men until thirty years old. They 
lived on plain food, and were inured to hunger, thirst, heat and 
cold. Not even the women were allowed to indulge in any emo- 
tion. Their sons were told, in leaving for battle, to "return 
with your shield or on it." 

The result was a race of physical fighters such as the world 
has seldom known — and that was all. The Spartans might have 
been a people mighty in good works and influence had they said 
to Lycurgus and other leaders : "So teach us to number our days 
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." 

IF THERE WERE NO DEATH. 

"Imagine death arrested in its work! What would happen?" 
asks Prof. W. P. Bartlett, then proceeds : "In its superabundance 
life would suffocate and crush out life itself. One fly could 
produce 20,000,000 in a single summer. At the end of five sum- 
mers of free propagation there would be 3,200,000,000,000,000,000,- 
000,000,000,000,000,000 flies. In six years one codfish would fill 
the ocean full and running over with a progeny of 64,081,000,000,- 
000,000,000,000,000,000,000. From the bottom to the top of the 
scale the scene is the same. The greater the propagating power 
of species, the greater and more rapid is the work of death, so 
as to preserve the equilibrium, without which all life would 
cease. One need but give a few minutes' thought to this before 
understanding why there is death; why, after all, it is only by 
death we live." 

In the highest, truest sense is the last statement of Professor 
Bartlett true. Man does not look upon the earth as his abiding- 
place. "Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 139 



come." It is the Christian's wonderful privilege to say: "Christ 
shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or death. 
To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 

TWO PROCESSIONS. 

It has been estimated that thirty-six million babies are born 
into the world each year; that if carried in their mothers' arms, 
single file, the procession halting not by night or day, it would 
require six years to pass one point. 

It is said a great general once wept after reviewing his 
troops, because the thought came to him with great force that 
every man in his vast army, now strong and vigorous, must some 
day pass into the embrace of death. And so it is. If the dying 
of earth could pass our doors in hearses, in double file, the pro- 
cession to the cemeteries would never cease. 

We read in Eccl. 1:4: "One generation passeth away, and 
another generation cometh." Each human life is a part of the 
great whole, given the wonderful privilege to "fight the good 
fight of faith," and to "lay hold on eternal life." 

LITTLE THINGS. 

HELPED BY THE ENEMY. 

History records the suffering of a besieged city for water. 
At a time when it seemed that the people would perish of thirst, 
a shell from the enemy tore a hole in the hillside and a spring 
burst forth. 

POINT OF CONTACT. 

The switch in a telephone is a very small part of the instru- 
ment, and yet so essential that the entire system is useless until 
you have taken down the receiver and thus connected your phone, 
by means of the switch, with the wire leading to "Central." 

A heart of love may seem a very small thing, yet it is the 
connecting switch between us and God, placing us in such a posi- 



140 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



tion that he can speak, through us, to the outside world, that our 
words and deeds may count for good to those with whom we 
associate. 

HEARING RESTORED BY A KICK. 

A Delaware farmer, who had been deaf for several years, 
was kicked on the head by a mule and rendered unconscious. 
"When he recovered he was surprised to find he could hear the 
slightest noise. 

Misfortunes frequently prove blessings in disguise. 

TEXAS-FEVER TICKS. 

It is estimated that before the establishment of the United 
States Bureau of Plant Industry the insects of the country 
annually destroyed farm products worth $1,000,000,000. The 
Texas-fever tick has been known to kill, in a single year, cattle 
worth $60,000,000. 

W e should not be willing to excuse in ourselves any fault, no 
matter how small it may seem. Enough little ones may offset 
the good points to such an extent as to render our lives practi- 
cally worthless, so far as influence for good upon others is con- 
cerned. 

WHAT ONE TESTAMENT DID. 

As a Swede, coming direct from his native country, landed 
at Ellis Island, a worker of the New York Bible Society offered 
him a Swedish New Testament. The Swede stopped, apparently 
startled, saying: "Weren't you here twenty-six years ago? I 
think you are the same man — yes, you are the same man." The 
other answered that he had been doing such work there for 
twenty-eight years, giving to each immigrant a- book in his 
mother tongue. "Well," said the Swede, "twenty-six years ago 
I landed here a stranger, and you gave me a New Testament in 
the Swedish language, just as you offered me one now. I read 
it and became a Christian. After a few years I made up my 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 141 



mind to be a preacher, and for twenty years I have been preach- 
ing the gospel in Colorado. It all began with you giving me a 
New Testament.''' — The Lutheran. 

THE MAN TOOK TIME. 

A prominent business man was accosted on the street by a 
boy who wanted to know the location of the public library. He 
found that the youth wanted a book on electricity, went with 
him to the library and saw that he got it. The little act of 
courtesy proved to be the means of starting the boy on a road 
that led him away from the street corner and the "gang," and 
finally landed him in a good technical school. — Martha Tarbell. 

WHAT THE HAIR TELLS. 

Insignificant as it is in size, each human hair holds a coloring 
pigment, according to a writer in London Answers. It may be 
brown, black, red or flaxen; but when the coloring-matter fails, 
the hair adopts the dreaded gray. 

The wonderful structure of each separate hair, and the words 
of Jesus in Matt. 10 : 30, "The very hairs of your head are all 
numbered." and that not a sparrow falls to the ground without 
the notice of the heavenly Father, impress upon us the lesson 
that everything, no matter how small, has its place in God's plan 
of the world. 

THE PEN AND THE SWORD. 

Dr. L, K. Hishberg says that Napoleon's poor penmanship 
had much to do with his defeat at Waterloo. He had written 
a note to his lieutenant. General Grouchy, in which he intended 
to say: "The battle is on." The general read it, "The battle is 
won," and so with his thirty-four thousand trained French vet- 
erans leisurely made his way toward Waterloo, comfortably tak- 
ing his time. Dr. Hishberg adds : 

"Napoleon was a master of the sword, but not of the pen, 
and Waterloo is by no means the only battle that has been lost 



142 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



because the leader, while skilled in big things, has failed in little 
ones." 

CLERKS WERE SURPRISED. 

The employes of the post-office of an Ohio town saved the 
short pieces of twine which came wrapped around the bundles 
of letters, winding them into a ball. At the end of four years 
it. was twenty-nine inches in diameter, weighed seventy-five 
pounds and contained an estimated length of thirty miles. 

The short pieces of spare time that come wrapped around the 
doings of each day in the average person's life would, if sys- 
tematically saved by applying to the pursuit of some helpful line 
of study or reading, result in the accumulation of a vast amount 
of useful knowledge. 

SMALL BEGINNINGS. 

A snowflake is so very small 
We scarcely think of it at all; 
And yet enough of them will make 
A barrier we can not break. 

A drop of water is so slight 
That as it falls it fades from sight; 
And yet enough of them will be 
A torrent or a raging sea. 

A word is but a breath of air, 
'Tis heard or spoken without care; 
Yet words in fierce profusion hurled, 
Upset the history of the world. 

—Grit. 

JUST DRIVING NAILS. 

A box-maker, who had worked at his trade fifty years, drove 
nine hundred million nails. It was estimated that, if laid end to 
end, these nails would reach seven times around the world. Such 
a task, viewed prospectively, would seem almost impossible. 
And yet it was done, one nail at a time, blow after blow, 
patiently, persistently, the hours, days, weeks, months and years 
coming and going with unvarying measure. 

Friend, if to you any task seems long and difficult, think of 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 143 



this man with his nine hundred million nails. As he filled his 
place, so may you fill yours — not by worrying over it, but by 
meeting each moment with its opportunities. One moment at a 
time, remember, is all you have to account for. Smile, and trust 
the future to God. 

KEPT AS A SOUVENIR. 

When Grover Cleveland completed his last term as President 
of the United States he took with him a check he never cashed. 
At that time the salary was $50,000 a year. He was paid $4,166.67 
two months in each quarter, and the third month he received 
$4,166.66. At the end of his last term it was found that one 
cent was still due him, and a check for that amount was drawn 
in his favor. He so treasured it as a souvenir that he never 
permitted it to pass from his possession. 

Many a little act of kindness within our power to bestow is 
withheld because it is small. It may be the very thing the recip- 
ient will prize the most, and hold to with loving memory long 
after many more pretentious acts have been forgotten. 

RESULT OF A SUGGESTION. 

Albert P. Terhune, in the San Francisco Bulletin, said that 
Harriet Beecher Stowe, while a resident of Brunswick, Maine, 
in 1851, received a letter from a sister in the West, launching 
forth into a bitter attack on slavery, in which was this sentence : 

"Hattie, if I could use a pen as you can, I would write some- 
thing that would make this whole nation feel what an accursed 
thing slavery is !" 

The result of the suggestion was the wonderful book, "Uncle 
Tom's Cabin," which had a sale of half a million copies within 
a few months, and which was later translated into nineteen 
languages. 

"More than any one other cause," says Mr. Terhune, "did 
'Uncle Tom's Cabin' lead to the Civil War. The spark struck 
10 



144 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



by the book spread until the whole North American continent 
was ablaze, and the fire was not quenched until four years of 
warfare had forever stamped out slavery from the United 

States." 

C? VALUE OF A LETTER. 

The dropping of the letter "s" in beginning the last word in 
the following paragraph of war news shows how easily tragedy 
may be turned into comedy : "The conflict was dreadful, and the 
enemy was repulsed with great laughter." 

Here is a news item given an entirely different meaning from 
that intended, by dropping the letter "b": "A man was arrested 
yesterday on the charge of having eaten a cabman for demanding 
more than his fare." 

As each letter, however small it may seem, has its place in 
conveying the right meaning of something, so each kind act, be 
it ever so small, has its place in giving each day the right setting 
in a well-ordered life. 

A MACHINE OF EXTREMES. 

In the work of the Bureau of Standards, maintained by the 
United States Government, no factor is considered small enough 
to be ignored, no expense too great, and no labor too exacting. 
One of the giant testing machines which can exert a pressure 
of over two million pounds, and register the degree of pressure 
with great accuracy, will immediately crush an egg-shell and 
likewise correctly register the pressure required in that operation. 

The truly great man is invariably known as one who consid- 
ers no opportunity for expressing kindness too small to be used 
by him. It was said of a certain Chief Justice that when a 
grandchild would sometimes search him out he would at once 
drop all business to pick up the little one and fondle it. On one 
occasion when Senators and other men of note were waiting to 
see one of our Presidents — Woodrow Wilson — he was enter- 
taining some children who had called on him. He could rise to 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 145 



the consideration of the most important matters of state with 
appropriate thoughtfulness, and with just as much consideration 
give a few glad moments to boys and girls. 

ONLY A VISITING-CARD. 

The interferometer measures wave-lengths so short that 
seventy-five thousand would cover only an inch. Mr. Haskin 
says of this : "One may step up to it and measure for himself the 
wave-lengths of light. To illustrate, a bar of steel three feet by 
three and one-half inches may be bent by a visiting-card, and 
the infinitesimal bending perceived by this remarkable instru- 
ment." 

Some one gave you a smile once, thinking nothing of it, per- 
haps considering it too infinitesimal to be of the least conse- 
quence, but with that remarkable instrument, the heartometer, 
possessed by you in common with all of us, the smile was 
weighed and became a part of the many influences which have 
helped in molding your character. 

No blade of grass is too small to be a part of the meadow; 
no fiber too insignificant to be a part of the great oak. There 
is nothing great or powerful that is not made up of atoms. 

LOVE. 

ENOUGH TO SATISFY. 

Seeing the ocean for the first time, a poor London woman 
exclaimed: "Thank God for the sight of something of which 
there is enough!" It is so when the soul gets its first vision of 
the infinite fullness of God's grace in Jesus Christ. — Rev. W. 
Hetherington. 

SHE NEVER GAVE UP. 

The pitiful vigil of "Linden Julie" in Berlin was ended only 
by her death. Crazed by grief, she had stood each day for forty- 
four years near the Brandenburg gate awaiting the return of her 



146 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



soldier lover from the Franco-Prussian War. During all that 
time of anxious waiting she had been a familiar figure to 
passers-by. 

BETWEEN BOY AND LION. 

Frederick Arnot, the missionary explorer, once saved the life 
of a black lad by springing between him and a Hon. The chief 
of the tribe, upon hearing of the incident, said : "I'd go any- 
where with a white man who throws himself between a lion and 
a black lad of no account." Such is the spirit of Africa's mis- 
sionaries. — American Church Magazine. 

WHEN BROTHERS QUARRELED. 

I knew of two brothers who had a quarrel. The mother 
could not reconcile them. She could not sleep. Her prayers 
went up night after night. One of the sons saw how she felt 
and was sorry for her, so bought a costly gift and took it to her. 
"I don't want any gift," she said; "I want you to be reconciled 
to your brother." God doesn't want your gifts until you are 
reconciled. — H. J. Geyer. 

LOVE AND LIFE. 

Keep love in your life, my friend, 

If you would hav^ perfect joy; 
Keep love, never let her depart — 

For who would his life destroy? 
For life's no longer than love, my friend; 
When love is no more, 'tis the journey's end, 
And Regret and Fear shall your way attend — 
Keep love in your life, my friend. 

— Selected. 

LOVED AND UNLOVELY. 

Years ago a plain Methodist preacher stood for days in the 
seething streets of the East End of London, muddy with men 
and women. He drank it all in, and loved it because of the souls 
he saw. He went home and said to his wife : "Darling, I have 
given myself, I have given you and the children, to the service 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 147 



of those sick souls." She smiled and took his hand, and together 
they knelt and prayed. That was the beginning of the Salvation 
Army; of the great work of William Booth. — Herald of 
Holiness. 

THE GIFT OF THE KING. 

The "Traveler's Guide in Life" tells of a woman who was 
very sick and whose daughter approached the son of a king, 
wishing to buy for her a bunch of luscious grapes from the 
ruler's garden. With his own hands the son cut a fine bunch 
of the rich fruit, which he gave to the astonished child, saying: 
"My father does not sell; he gives." Eternal life is the gift of 
God, through his Son. 

HEART EXPANSION. 

One class of individuals lays stress upon mental equipment; 
another, upon physical development. The man with the greatest 
knowledge is confined to a very small circle, in comparison with 
the vast realm of the unknown. The physical giant is but a 
pigmy contrasted with the forces of nature. The greatest man 
in the world is the one possessing the largest soul-development, 
with a heart expansion of twenty-five thousand miles. His circle 
of influence and interest in life reaches around the world. "The 
greatest of these is love." 

IDEAL FRIENDSHIP. 

"I think that one of the most peculiarly sweet affections is 
that existing between a big, sturdy boy and his mother," says a 
writer in the Dallas News. "She seems to say: 'Here is my joy, 
and maybe my protector and support in years to come.' And 
he : 'This is my dear little mother. I am going to do great things 
for her when I get to be a man.' Such a boy will never break 
his mother's heart. She seems to feel sure of this. Only such 
a boy can have such a mother. Only such a mother can have 
such a son." 



148 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



SAVED HIS STATUE. 

In an art gallery in Paris is a famous statue which was the 
last work of a great genius. When it was all but finished, a sud- 
den frost fell upon Paris one night. The sculptor, who was 
poor, awoke and at once thought of the moist clay, and the dan- 
ger of the dream of a lifetime being ruined. So the old man 
arose and wrapped the bed-clothes around his work. In the 
morning he was found dead, but his statue lived. It should be 
thus with the image of Christ we are forming within us. We 
should be glad to give up everything else for the sake of it. — 
Christian Endeavor World. 

RED COATS OF THE WOODS. 

Hunters in a vast region of the Northwest wear red coats and 
hats, as a matter of safety, that they may not be mistaken by 
others for wild animals moving about in the thick forests and 
underbrush. 

History furnishes numerous instances of how missionaries 
and others who have been kind and helpful to wild tribes of 
people have been spared in times of great peril, not because they 
wore any certain kind of clothing, but because they had put on 
Christ, and had heeded the words given in Col. 3 : 14 : "Above 
all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness." 

THE SECRET OF IT ALL. 

Joining an anxious mother in the search for her lost boy, I 
was struck with the contrast between her eager look, intense 
emotion and restless energy, and the dull, listless apathy of the 
other by-passers in the busy streets. She had lost a son; that 
was the secret of it all. She could take no rest but in seeking. — 
Family Magazine. 

In all the pages of history the eager, anxious, sympathetic, 
sacrificing life of Christ stands out in marvelous contrast with 
that of all others. His one supreme mission was to seek and to 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 149 



save the lost. His followers have no right to be dull, careless, 
listless, indifferent, in the discharge of a duty so sacred and so 
vital. 

BETTER THAN MILLIONS. 

After mourning their son as dead, Capt. and Mrs. Jacob A. 
Muller, of near San Francisco, received a letter from him in 
the State of Washington, saying he was alive and well and 
would soon be home. He had been absent eight years, roaming 
in many lands, and during that time they had heard no word 
from him. He had his life insured in their favor before leav- 
ing home, and the insurance company had paid the money — 
something over $1,000. So rejoiced were the parents that their 
son was living, that Captain Muller at once returned the money. 

"The boy alive is a million times better than all the money 
in the world," said the happy father to the astonished insurance 
officials. 

"WE, THE HUMAN." 

I know something of the great emotions which flood the 
human soul. I have watched the splendors of sunrise and sun- 
set, of moon and star, storm and calm at sea. I have seen the 
snow-capped hills, canyons and cataracts, but there is no emotion 
akin to that inspired by standing in the midst of a human throng 
in New York, aliens from afar, children of the bondmen of serfs, 
hoary-headed members of a martyred race, and hear all of their 
raried tongues blend into speech, all their thoughts blend into 
one feeling. Then you feel the rushing of a mighty wind, for 
that is Pentecost,- the supremest moment of one's life, when you 
can disembowel yourself of hate and prejudice; when, as with a 
new birth, you can stand amid the strife of states and nations 
and races and classes, and feel all the human race say, "We, the 
human." When the church gets this new universalism, she will 
get her Pentecost. — Prof. E. A. Steiner, at Men and Religion 
Congress, New York g 1912. 



150 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



THE PATCHED GARMENT. 

In acknowledging the receipt of a keepsake— a waist belong- 
ing to a friend who had passed away — a young lady wrote these 
significant words: 

"There is a little hole in it that she had patched, which makes 
it all the dearer to me." 

It isn't the money value of a gift or keepsake that we prize 
most. It's the memories revived by it; the emotions, the deep 
feelings of the heart stirred into quicker, warmer beating. It 
isn't some great thing we may be able to do for God's cause that 
will count most in his sight; it's the giving to him of our poor, 
patched-up lives, which we have tried so hard to make present- 
able to him, because we love him and his cause. 

THE GIFT OF A CHILD. 

Losing practically every cent he had in the world, writes 
Mrs. R. W. Lowe, a certain business man went to his desk, and, 
with his head bowed in despair, was thinking of a possible way 
of ending his life, when his little girl came up to him with the 
question: "What does 'ruined' mean, papa?" Speaking tenderly, 
he replied: "It means I haven't any money, baby. Papa's a 
poor man." 

The little feet pattered away, then back again, bringing a 
queer little, copper two-cent piece. Because of this act of love, 
the world immediately took on a brighter appearance to the man. 
His despair was turned to hope. Ever after that he wore the 
coin as a charm for his watch-chain. "Not a great fortune," 
said he, in speaking of the, loving deed of his child, "but what- 
ever I've got since then came from it, for it gave me courage." 

MR. BEECHER'S FAREWELL. 

In Dr. C. H. Hall's eulogy of Henry Ward Beecher, in 
Plymouth Church, he said: "On his last Sunday evening in this 
place two weeks ago, after the congregation had retired from 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 



151 



it, the organist and one or two others were practicing. Mr. 
Beecher remained behind to listen. Two street boys wandered 
into the building, and one of them was standing in the position 
of the boy Raphael has immortalized, gazing up at the organ. 
The old man, laying his hand on the boy's head, turned his face 
upward and kissed him, and, with his arms about the two, left 
the scene of his triumphs, his trials and successes forever. It 
was a fitting close to a grand life, recognizing, as his Master 
did, that the humblest and the poorest were his brethren."— 
Ella Brownson, in Sunday School Times. 

BOTH TOOK SECOND THOUGHT. 

A duel growing out of a slight altercation, which had been 
arranged to be fought in the woods near Moscow, says the Daily 
Citizen, failed because both adversaries wished to spare the 
other. One was a young staff lieutenant and one a retired gen- 
eral of over sixty. When the signal to fire was given, neither 
of the men pulled his trigger. The general said he could not risk 
destroying a young life over a triviality, and the lieutenant said 
it was impossible for him to fire upon an opponent who had not 
raised his arm. 

Many heartaches and sorrows of long standing could be 
avoided if every one would take a serious second thought before 
saying or doing anything toward the injury of another's person 
or character. 

THE NEWSBOY'S SERMON. 

On a suburban train was a bright-eyed, barefooted newsboy, 
working his way through the crowded car with his papers. A 
white-haired old gentleman, says Forward, seemed interested in 
the boy, and questioned him concerning his home and his earn- 
ings. There was a younger brother who was lame, to be sup- 
ported, it appeared. "Ah, I see," said the man in a kindly tone; 
"that makes it hard; you could do better alone." The shabby 
little fellow was erect in a moment, and his reoly prompt and 



J 52 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



somewhat indignant: "No, I couldn't! Jim's somebody to go 
home to; he's lots of help. What would be the good of having 
luck if nobody was glad, or of gettin' things if there was nobody 
to divide with?" 

"Fourteenth Street!" called the conductor, and as the news- 
boy plunged out into the gathering dusk, the old gentleman 
remarked to no one in particular: "I've heard many a poorer 
sermon than that!" 

PARABLE OF LOVE. 

"I'll master it," said the ax to a piece of iron, as his blows 
fell heavily upon it. But every blow made his edge more blunt, 
until he ceased to strike. 

"Leave it to me," said the saw, but soon all his teeth were 
broken and he fell aside. 

"Ha, ha!" said the hammer, "I knew you couldn't succeed. 
I'll show you the way." But at the first blow his head fell off. 

"Shall I try?" asked the soft, small flame. 

They all despised the flame, but he curled gently around the 
iron, embraced it, and never left it until it melted under his 
irresistible influence. 

There are hearts so hard as to resist the force of wrath, 
the malice of persecution, and the fury of pride; but there is a 
power stronger than any of these, and hard is the heart that can 
resist love. 

ROMANCE OF THE WORKSHOP. 

George Westinghouse, Jr., whose father invented the air- 
brake, worked for him and became an expert in his shops at 
Pittsburgh. While laboring there in 1908, he one day escorted 
Miss Brocklebank, daughter of Sir Thomas Brocklebank, of 
Cumberland, through the plant and made himself so agreeable 
that she was favorably impressed. Believing him to be simply 
a workman, she hesitated as to whether or not to give him a 
tip. The next meeting between the lady and her guide in over- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 153 



alls, says Tit-Bits, was in London. The acquaintance ripened 
into love, and the wedding took place the following year. Later 
the young man inherited, at his father's death, a fortune of 
550.000,000. 

The man of honor is not afraid of work or workmen's attire. 
He knows he has the respect of all right-thinking men and 
women. 

OXLY ONE CONDITION. 

There was a ripple of excitement all through the orphanage, 
for a great lady had come to take little Jane home with her. 
The girl herself was bewildered with the thought. '"Do you 
want to go with me and be my child?'" the lady asked in gentle 
tones. "T don't know,'* said Jane, timidly. "But I'm going to 
give you beautiful clothes, and a lot of things — a room of your 
own, with a beautiful bed and table and chairs.'' After a mo- 
ment's silence the little one said, anxiously: "But what am I to 
do for — for all this?"' The lady burst into tears. "Only to love 
me and be my child,''' she said, as she folded the little girl in her 
arms. 

God adopts us, protects us, and gives us an inheritance in 
glory. All he asks in return is that we should love him and be 
his children. — Children's Record. 

THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES. 

Among the sky-scrapers in New York City is the Woolworth 
Building of fifty-five stories, standing 750 feet high, with its 
"roof in the sky." Within sight of it are living representatives 
of all the great nations of earth, speaking many languages, with 
daily papers for the Chinese. Italians, Germans. Tews. Greeks. 
Hungarians. French. Bohemians, Spanish. Servians and others. 
Here is a marvelously varied moving picture of the peoples of 
earth, with such a Babel of voices that one is reminded of the 
descendants of Noah who stopped in the land of Shinar and 
said: "Come, let us build us a city, a tower, whose top may 



154 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



reach unto heaven." Commencing the work, God confounded 
their language, and they were scattered abroad "upon the face 
of all the earth." 

The confusion of tongues has remained, and many men in 
various ways have "had dominion" over the things of earth, air 
and sea, all working together under one great Builder, not for 
the erection of a "tower whose top may reach unto heaven," but 
for the elevation of the human family through Him who said: 
"I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." 

Even though there are many races, and they can not "under- 
stand one another's speech," there is one language they all know 
— the language of the heart. A smile, a laugh, a cry, a hand- 
shake, a kindly act, are the same everywhere, understood by 
every human being. Make rich use of the universal language. 

THE BOYS' LAST NIGHT. 

Three young men, all musicians, who had been good friends 
during four years together in college, were in Guy's room the 
last evening before they were to separate for their homes. He 
wanted to serenade the lovely Miss Norton, while Ben wished 
to call on the pretty Miss Simpson. Harold, a tall, athletic 
young fellow whom everybody loved, said thoughtfully: 

"You both know Mrs. Wright, who has done our washing. 
Well, she's old and poor, and crippled by rheumatism besides. 
It's our last chance to do anything more for her. Let's go there 
to-night, and take our violins. The girls will have forgotten our 
efforts in a week, but Mrs. Wright will remember them as long 
as she lives." 

They went. Somehow, they played as never before. The 
little washerwoman sat in her old chair, her hands clasped in 
delight. She had forgotten all about her rheumatism and her 
poverty. Her boys — for she called them that — were playing her 
into an enchanted land where everything was beautiful. When 
they arose to go, each one took the small, knotted hand that for 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 155 



four years had washed his clothes, and tenderly said good-by, 
with best wishes. As they walked away in the bright moonlight, 
Guy. was the first to speak. "It paid, didn't it?" he said. 

Ben looked up at the stars. Something new had crept into 
his soul that night — a desire to be a better fellow, and less 
selfish. "I should say it did," he answered soberly. Harold put 
an arm around each and gently said, "Thank you." And the 
humble washerwoman had been ushered into a new world. Some 
one cared — and for her. — Onward. 

THE TIE THAT BINDS. 

Rev. John Fawcett, author of the world-famed hymn, "Blest 
be the Tie that Binds Our Hearts in Christian Love," wrote it 
in 1772, as a memorial of the power of love. He had served as 
pastor of a little church at Yorkshire for seven years, when he 
received and accepted a call to a large church in London. He 
packed his goods in wagons and was ready, with his family, to 
start, when the members of his church gathered about him in 
great sorrow and distress of mind. The minister and his wife 
also wept bitterly. Finally she cried out: "Oh, John, John, I 
can not bear this ! I know not how to go !" The good man 
replied : "Nor I either ; nor will we go ! Unload the wagons, and 
put everything back where it was before !" 

The decision was received with tears of joy. He went on 
with his work in Yorkshire, and out of the experience wrote the 
hymn which has been sung over and over again in all lands and 
climes where the Christian religion is known. 

MATRIMONY. 

COMMENCED WITH PRAYER. 

Preparatory to his marriage, Dr. Lyman Beecher called a few 
times on the woman of his choice, and then one morning, step- 
ping inside, said: "I have come to ask if you will marry s me." 
"Yes, sir," she replied. "Let us pray," said the extraordinary 



156 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



suitor. They knelt, and Lyman Beecher prayed for God's bless- 
ing upon their union. Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet 
Beecher Stowe were children of this marriage. 

THE REASON HE GAVE. 

"I wonder why you married me," exclaimed a young wife, 
turning with tear-filled eyes to confront her husband, whose 
first wife was a belle and a beauty, adding: "I am so far from 
beautiful." 

"Because I loved you," he replied promptly. 
"But what first attracted you ?" 

"Your sweet repose of manner, your womanly dignity, your 
cultivated voice, your evident self-control under all circum- 
stances. By all these things I judged you, dear, thinking of the 
old Spanish proverb, 'There can be no perfect manners without 
Christian souls.' " — Selected. 

CHOOSING A HUSBAND. 

"How may a girl know she is marrying the right man?" 
This question was answered in the Ladies' Home Journal as fol- 
lows, by a woman who had been happily wedded: 

"When nineteen I met a young doctor. We soon became 
good friends, and in about a year he asked me to marry him. 
While I admired him greatly, I felt I did not love him. He was 
much disappointed, but asked that we still remain friends. Some 
time afterward I was visiting in the country, and this young 
doctor was to call on Sunday and take me home. Hearing the 
'honk-honk' of his automobile horn, I went down the road to 
meet him. On my way I saw him get out of his car and pick 
up a small squirrel that had been injured. The tender way he 
handled it soon convinced me that he was the man I should 
want my children to call 'Father.' That was twelve years ago, 
and I have been the happiest of wives and the most blessed of 
mothers ever since." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 157 



MEMORY. 

A MATTER OF WILL-POWER 

An old lawyer placed an important document in the hands 
of a young man of eighteen, says the Boys' World, with certain 
instructions as to what to do with it. 

"But suppose I should happen to lose it?" the other asked. 

"You must not lose it," said the attorney, frowning. "I shall 
make no provision for such carelessness." 

This put a new train of thought into the young man's mind, 
and he found that, if he was determined to do a thing, he could 
do it. He became a successful business man, and said: 

"When a man tells me he forgot to do something, I tell him 
he might as well have said, T do not care enough about your 
business to take the trouble to think of it again. 5 " 

MYSTERIES OF THE MIXD. 

An English writer avers that the Rev. Thomas Threkheld, a 
Presbyterian minister of Richdale, knew the entire Bible by 
heart, and could speak ten languages. The "Learned Black- 
smith," Elihu Burritt. learned fifty languages — two of them 
(Latin and Greek) while still an apprentice at the forge. 
Antonio Magliabecchi, a poor Florentine, was made the librarian 
of Duke Cosmo III. because of his wonderful memory. It was 
said of him that he never forgot anything he read. Many per- 
sons never forget what they hear, but quickly lose what they 
read. — Garrett P. Serviss. 

We should have the very best memory possible, but bear in 
mind that heart expansion is more important than mental expan- 
sion. Paul says that though we speak with the tongues of men 
and of angels, understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and 
yet have not love, we are nothing; that love will abide when 
everything else has failed. 



158 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



MERIT. 
SUPERS IN PLAYS. 

In every large city are persons who are content to be "supers" 
— to act the small part in plays, where minor characters are to be 
represented. It requires but little talent or rehearsing, and 
much of the time is spent in waiting around in the wings or 
dressing-rooms. 

In the real work of the world don't be content to be a "super." 
Be ambitious to become a "real actor" — to do something worth 
while. No one should be content to wait around for an occa- 
sional small job on the stage of life. 

THE JEWELED CANINE. 

A baroness from Austria who visited America brought along 
what was called a $10,000 dog. One of the papers put it thus : 
"Patsy, as he stands, gold nose-ring, ruby necktie and collar, 
is valued at $10,000." The value of the part that was "just plain 
dog" was not given — evidently only a small portion of the high- 
sounding figures. 

It isn't strange that a brute should be valued by what he 
wears and not by what he is. The same absurd error is often 
made in estimating the worth of human beings. 

VALUELESS MADE VALUABLE. 

The abnormal growths known as burls, common to almost 
every species of tree, become very large on California redwoods. 
T. A. Church says they are produced as the result of some 
injury, such as forest fires, insect attacks, gnawing of animals, 
or excessive pruning. For many years they were looked upon 
as a waste product, until a man named Rodney Burns saw great 
possibilities in them. Now all sorts of novelties are made from 
them for curio dealers, and burl furniture is much prized. 

As a general thing, people who are abnormal in character 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 159 

were made so by some injury or neglect, either in their home or 
society. We may discover but little of merit in them, but God 
sees such great possibilities, even in the most wicked hearts, that 
he sent his Son to transform them into hearts worthy the 
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is not for us to say that any 
life is of no value. 

THE HEIGHT OF THINGS. 

The Matthews teleheight is a little instrument designed to 
get the exact height of a pole, tree or other tail object. The 
lineman measures with a tape a distance of seventy-five feet 
from the object as it stands in the ground, and from this point 
adjusts his thumb-screw, spirit-level and other parts preparatory 
to obtaining the desired result. In making off-hand guesses a 
number of persons would probably vary considerably in their 
estimates, but the man with the instrument is not guessing. He 
knows. 

Every one in a community is "sized up" by those who know 
him, some holding him in too high esteem, and others not high 
enough. But the individual himself knows his real standing. 
The little instrument, conscience, gives him his exact measure- 
ment. 

DROPPED FROM THE PAY-ROLL. 

During investigation into the workings of an insurance cor- 
poration it was found that the president of a Xew York com- 
pany, who was regarded as anything but a genius, had succeeded 
in boosting his salary to $150,000 a year, and that several mem- 
bers of his family were also drawing enormous pay. As a 
result of the investigation it was found that the value of their 
services had been vastly overestimated, and the whole family 
was taken from the pay-roll, much to the advantage of the 
company. 

Every young person starting out in life should resolve not to 
overestimate his or her ability or worth. On the other hand, 
11 



160 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



do not underestimate yourself. "Know thyself," and be true to 
thyself, hence "it must follow as the day the night that thou 
canst not then be false to any man." 

MISSIONS. 

^ THE GREATEST GIFT. 

When a collection was being counted after an enthusiastic 
missionary meeting, a small piece of paper was found on the 
plate on which was the one word "Myself." It was put in by a 
young man who had given himself that night to the service of 
Christ in the foreign field. — By Way of Illustration. 

DID WHAT SHE COULD. 

Sherwood Eddy, in "India's Awakening," tells of a poor girl 
who had worked for years as a stenographer: "She offered to 
go to the foreign field, but was rejected on account of her 
health. Since then she has been saving her money, supporting 
native workers at thirty dollars a year. There is a community 
in native India where more than a thousand souls have been 
brought to Christ by this one frail girl. A thousand who have 
passed from darkness into his marvelous light because one girl 
cared! How many are in the light because of what you have 
done ?" — Forward. 

A STREET BLACKSMITH. 

Instead of waiting for customers in his shop, a Paris black- 
smith did a profitable business during the winter months by 
going out on the streets with a portable equipment, finding many 
horses needing new shoes or sharpened calks in order that they 
might get along on the slippery streets. The owners would give 
the smithy their patronage there who would not take the time 
to go to his shop. 

It is often the case that mission workers find eager listeners 
among the men on the streets, who realize they are standing on 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 161 



slippery ground, but who would not take the time to go to a 
hall or church. "Billy" Sunday's conversion was due to a talk 
he heard at an open-air street-meeting in Chicago. 

BIG USE OF SMALL ISLAND. 

The lonely island of Norfolk, once a penal colony, midway 
between New Caledonia and New Zealand, has an area of but 
little over thirteen square miles, and yet is the home of one of 
the most remarkable printing-offices in the world. Here is pub- 
lished a semi-annual mission paper, the Melanesian Mission 
Press, and other works in twenty-one languages. The editor is 
a German- American, formerly of New York, who has lived on 
the island thirty-two years, denying himself the pleasure of 
modern conveniences that he might publish and send forth the 
light of the gospel of Christ to the dark races of the southern 
seas. The island itself is but a speck in the great ocean, and yet 
what a "base of supplies" it has proven for giving neglected 
men "the one thing needful" in making their lives worth living. 
Small opportunities may be made the means of great blessings 
to many people speaking many languages. 

SHIPS SOW SEEDS. 

Botanists have made the interesting discovery that the vegeta- 
tion of tw r o islands in the Pacific Ocean, nearly one thousand 
miles apart, is now almost identical, while formerly there was a 
marked difference. The explanation is that at each port the 
wind carries a fine powder of almost invisible seeds on to each 
of the many ships that stop, and blows ashore some of those 
she has received at previous ports of call. 

As the difference in the vegetation of islands is disappearing, 
so is the difference in the habits and customs of the many races 
of people upon the earth. The doctrine of the Fatherhood of 
God and the brotherhood of man, as taught and lived by Christ, 
is making the whole world akin. When Jesus was asked to 



162 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



explain the parable of the tares, he said: "He that soweth the 
good seed is the Son of man ; the field is the world." 

This good seed, like that of plant life, is also being carried 
to the uttermost parts of the world. Scarcely a ship that does 
not bear away Christian workers or religious literature, so that 
now as never before is being obeyed the command of the 
Saviour when he said to his disciples : "Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature." 

MONEY. 

THE TOUCH OF GOLD. 

Offering a prize for the best definition of money, a London 
paper awarded it to a young man who sent in the following: 
"An article which may be used as a universal passport to every- 
where except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything 
except happiness." 

At one of the great Portola celebrations in San Francisco 
a young woman was coated with gold to represent the Golden 
State of California in a beautiful float. She died in a short 
time as a result. The pores of the skin were so filled that there 
was no giving out from the body. 

The Classmate tells of the death of a child, due to being 
covered with gold to personate a cherub at an entertainment, and 
adds: "The gold coating which covers the avaricious souls, and 
shuts off the outgoing of love, sympathy and service, means 
spiritual death." 

THE GIVING THAT COUNTS. 

When Helen Gould was married to Finley J. Shepherd, one 
of the New York papers, in its report, said: "The wedding was 
simple, in strict keeping with the life and habits of the woman 
whose goodness and unostentatious benefactions have won high 
esteem. . . . But, more than all this, the bride herself added a 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 163 



touch suggestive of true Americanism. Shortly after break- 
fast, when the millionaire guests were preparing for the cere- 
mony, she summoned her servants. As they entered her study, 
she shook each warmly by the hand, and bade them be present 
at the wedding. And she later saw to it that the ceremony did 
not begin until every person in her employ was placed at a point 
of vantage." 

A California paper, commenting upon her thoughtfulness in 
this regard, and her great liberality, said: "Helen Gould gives 
more than money. She gives herself. There is no other way 
to win the love of a people." 

WHEN GOLD WAS CHEAP. 

On the steamer "Valencia," which went down off the North- 
west coast, was a man named Graham, on his way home from 
Alaska, bringing with him a bag of gold. He was rich, but 
when he, as all others on board, saw that the ship must sink, 
he frantically offered his gold to any one who would take him 
safe to land. His pleadings were not heeded, and his bag of 
gold was kicked underfoot, no one bothering to even pick it up. 
He had risked his life for the gold, and then offered the gold 
for his life. 

It is when confronting or contemplating such a crisis that 
the words of Jesus come to mind with great force : "For who- 
soever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose 
his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it; for 
what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose 
his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his 
soul?" 

\ ON THE FATED "TITANIC." 

Eleven millionaires lost their lives, with the hundreds of 
others who went down with the "Titanic," in April, 1912. Their 
combined wealth totaled nearly $200,000,000. No doubt, could 
they have sent a message to the living as to their estimate of 



164 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



the things of most importance in life, not one would have men- 
tioned money. The papers reported that Maj. A. H. Peuchen, 
of Toronto, who was saved from the wreck, left more than 
$300,000 in money, jewelry and securities in a box in his cabin. 
He started back for the box, thought an instant, then turned 
away without it. In telling of the incident after reaching New 
York, he said: "The money seemed a mockery at that time. I 
picked up three oranges instead." 

Major Peuchen evidently realized, as have millions of others 
facing death, that Paul's words to Timothy are true: "For we 
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry 
nothing out." 

PENALTY FOR COUNTERFEITING. 

In Dalton, Massachusetts, is located the only mill in the 
world for the manufacture of the paper from which the United 
States Government makes paper money. Only pure white linen 
rags are used. The process is secret. In each sheet, which is 
the size of four bills, are blue and red silk fibers, so arranged 
that approximately an equal number must be in every bill. The 
possession of even one sheet of this paper, without a single 
mark upon it, makes a person liable to a fine of $5,000, or five 
years' imprisonment, or both. 

The laws against counterfeiting have always been severe. 
There was a time — in the 1770's — when the penalty for counter- 
feiting New York State currency was death. On each bill were 
the words, "Tis Death to Counterfeit." 

All who made counterfeits of those bills must themselves 
have placed on the face of each the severe penalty for their act. 
In the affairs of life many attempt to deceive, to imitate, to pose 
as real men, but on the face of each false pretender his own 
condemnation is written, by his own conduct, through the 
unyielding law of cause and effect: "Whatsoever a man soweth, 
that shall he also reap." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 165 



MOTHER. 

HIS OPPORTUNITY. 

She is my mother, and eighty years old. I have an idea life 
evens things up. When I was young and helpless, mother took 
care of me; now I take care of her. She was patient with me 
then; now I am patient with her. She fed me; now I feed, 
clothe and keep her. She loved me when I was ignorant, awk- 
ward, needing constant care, and all because I was born of her 
body and part of her soul. Now every feebleness and trait of 
childishness in her endears her to me. So much as she is tax 
on my time, attention and money, I love her. She watched with 
me until I grew up; I shall watch with her until she steps into 
heaven. — Dr. Frank Crane. 

LOVE AND PET ME NOW. 

Take my withered hands in yours, 

Children of my soul; 
Mother's heart is craving love; 

Mother's growing old. 
See, the snows of many years 

Crown my furrowed brow; 
As I've loved and petted you. 

Love and pet me now. 

Take my withered hands in yours, 

Hold them close and strong; 
Cheer me with a fond caress, 

'Twill not be for long; 
Youth immortal soon will crown 

With its wreath my brow. 
As I loved and petted you, 

Love and pet me now. 

— T. B. Laritnore. 
SERVICE MEANS BEAUTY. 

"Mother does not look as she used to," said a young man to 
a friend as they were going away together, after a call on her. 
"When I was a boy they called her the handsomest woman in 
the community. But father was sick a long time, and my brother 
and I were both ill, and father and brother died. Mother had 



166 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



to manage things and work very hard, and carry a heavy load 
to get me through college. It has stooped her shoulders, and 
left wrinkles on her cheeks and forehead, as well as whitened 
her hair. But," and here his eyes filled with tears and his voice 
broke with emotion as he continued, "to me she is the most beau- 
tiful woman in the whole world, for every wrinkle reminds me 
of the load she carried all for me." — Christian Advocate. 

WORKING-HOURS OF BIRDS. 

Green's Fruit Grower says the thrush gets up at half-past 
two every morning during the summer-time and works until 
half-past nine at night — a straight nineteen hours — during which 
it feeds its young over two hundred times. The blackbird works 
seventeen hours, and feeds its young a hundred times a day. 
Other birds work nearly as long. 

Men who complain at more than eight hours' labor out of the 
twenty-four may here find food for reflection. Then, in many 
a home the wife and mother is up early and retires late, her 
hours often being nearer eighteen than eight. Like the hard- 
working bird, she does it for those near and dear to her. 

PATIENT AND SMILING. 

I have known many women who have brought the picture of 
Christ into my thoughts as I noted their daily walk. Smiling 
over the humblest service. That's mother. Sinking into a chair, 
weary and faint, only to rise with the unfailing smile on her 
dear, tired face, to wait on some man who has worked eight 
hours that day; or to mend a jacket or catcher's mit for a boy 
who has played all day; or to sew on a bit of lace or adjust a 
ribbon or change something about a gown for a girl who has 
had such a good time all day that she can't stop. That's mother. 
Staying at home that others may go out and enjoy themselves; 
sacrificing this hope, that comfort, and that rest, for people who 
forget to say, "Thank you." That's mother. — Robert J. Burdette. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 167 



"SUCH A MOTHER." 

After one of the hard-fought battles of the Civil War, the 
chaplain was hastily called to see a dying soldier. Taking his 
hand, he said gently: "Well, my brother, is there anything I can 
do for you?" 

He supposed, of course, the young man would want to cry 
to God for help, but not so. Instead, he requested: 

"I want you to cut a lock of my hair for mother and then 
kneel down and return thanks to God for me." 

"For what?" the chaplain inquired. 

"For giving me such a mother. Oh, she is such a good 
mother ! Her teachings are my comfort now. And then, chap- 
lain, thank God that by his grace I am a Christian, and for the 
promised home in glory — Fll soon be there." 

"And so," said the chaplain, "I knelt by his bed with not a 
petition to utter, only praises and thanksgiving for a good 
mother, a Christian hope and an eternal home in heaven." 

FREEDOM THROUGH A SONG. 

A Scottish young man wandered away from his native coun- 
try, was taken captive by the Turks and made a slave in one of 
the Barbary States. Years passed, and one evening, when 
solacing himself by singing songs he had learned at his mother's 
knee, the familiar tune of "Old Hundred" floated from his lips 
out on the moonlit waves to the ears of sailors on an English 
man-of-war lying at anchor in the near-by harbor. Surmising 
that one of their countrymen was a captive there, they quickly 
armed themselves, manned a boat and effected his release. Thus, 
after eighteen long years in slavery, he found his freedom 
through a song his mother taught him. 

Freedom from a far worse slavery — that of surrender to evil 
habits — may be obtained by many thousands of men by recalling 
and resolving to be true to the Christian teachings of a sainted 
mother. 



168 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



GOOD-BY IN A CAR. 

Representative Norris, of Nebraska, was on a street-car one 
Sunday morning when there entered a white-haired woman, a 
man of about thirty and a well-dressed young woman. The con- 
versation soon made it apparent that the young man and his 
mother were from a farm, and that they were visiting Wash- 
ington for the first time. He was starting home, leaving her to 
visit longer with the younger woman, who was her daughter. 
When the brother arose a little later to say good-by at the point 
where he was to leave the car, his mother threw her arms 
around his neck, and stood for some moments delivering a 
motherly message, while the conductor waited patiently with his 
hand on the bell-cord. Embarrassed, the son still held his arm 
about his mother's waist. 

"Start the car!" called out a man in a silk hat. "It's church - 
time now. Why can't people do this sort of thing before they 
start for church?" he grumbled. 

It had gone far enough for Mr. Norris. "Young man," he 
said to the one who was now the center of all eyes, "you just 
take all the time you want to say good-by to your mother. You 
don't know when you will say it to her for the last time. And 
if any of these people are so worried over their sins that they 
must hurry to church, why, they might get down on their knees 
right here, and pray." — Cleveland Leader. 

ALEXANDER'S MOTHER. 

"History does not furnish a more perfect human correspond- 
ence than that which is seen to have existed between Alexander 
the Great and his mother, Olympias," writes Rev. Thomas B. 
Gregory. "She was born of royal stock, about 384 B. C. A 
human volcano she was, seething and boiling with the hottest 
and most terrible passions known to humanity. She was fond 
of playing with serpents, finding a delight in th4ir hisses, and 
in folding them about her neck and arms/' 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 169 



She was the wife of Philip, king of Macedon, and for more 
than twenty years shared the throne with him. Then he decided 
to put her away, and marry a young princess, which he did. In 
the midst of the marriage banquet Altalus proposed a toast, in 
which was an insult to Olympias. Alexander immediately arose 
and hurled his goblet at the head of Altalus, then, putting his 
arm about his mother, led her away to her old home in Epirus, 
and to his dying-day remained true to her. Although she was 
known as the Hyrcanian tigress, yet she was his mother, and 
that was enough for him. 

NATURE. 

VIEW OF AN ATTORNEY. 

After many years' investigation of the philosophy of evolu- 
tion I have yet to see proof of a single fact showing, or tending 
to show, the operation of the so-called "law" or "principle" of 
evolution in the world of nature. No instance has ever been 
found of a living thing of one species coming from the ancestors 
of another species ; and there is not the slightest ground for the 
belief that such a thing ever happened. On the other hand, 
every one of the countless billions of reproductions of living 
creatures — the grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree 
yielding fruit — which occur every year, are in accordance with 
the divine command in the first chapter of Genesis. — Philip 
Mauro, Attorney, New York City. 

GOD IN HIS WORKS. 

"It is not possible," says Ruskin, "for a Christian to walk 
across so much as a rod of the natural earth without receiving 
strength and hope from some stone, flower, leaf or sound, nor 
without a sense of a dew falling upon him out of the sky." God 
has crowded this world full of beauty; it is only our eyes at 
fault when we find the common and mean. Consider the French 



170 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



painter, Millet, and his work. The peasant or the laboring man, 
by himself, had never been regarded as a proper subject for art 
until this "peasant painter of peasants" looked upon him with 
the eyes of understanding and sympathy. All the world knows 
and loves his pictures — "The Gleaners," "The Sowers," "The 
Angelus," and many more. — Mary B. Anderson, in Christian 
Standard. 

MOUNTAIN PEAK DEMOLISHED. 

Twenty million tons of rock suddenly started from its age- 
long resting-place at the top of Mount Lombard, Colorado, at 
an elevation of 12,405 feet above sea-level, in the winter of 
1913-14, and in a few seconds it had dashed down five thousand 
feet, with a terrific roar, before striking obstacles sufficiently to 
stop it. In this brief time three hundred feet of the topmost 
peak was demolished, and a great stretch of the hillside changed 
in form and appearance. New routes for its ascension at that 
point were made necessary. 

We think of mountain peaks as things that endure, yet in a 
moment they may slip away. This is typical of man's earthly 
possessions, in which he feels secure, and on which he has set 
his heart. From some unexpected source the crash may come 
and fortunes be swept away, as is often the case. From this 
time forth the loser must change his attitude toward all around 
him, and scale the mountains of life along new lines. 

"THE CENTER OF THE SKY." 

Under this caption Prof. Frederick Campbell, second vice- 
president of the department of astronomy in Brooklyn Institute, 
gives comparisons which show the wonderful distances from the 
earth of some known stars. Polaris, the familiar "north star," 
is one of the nearest, and yet the light from it is seventy years 
reaching the earth, while the sun, at a distance of ninety-three 
million miles, sends its light to us in eight and one-half min- 
utes! If the north star were the same distance, its light would 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 1 7 1 



appear one hundred times as bright as that of the sun. Mar- 
velous as is this, Professor Campbell says the light of Deneb is 
eighteen times brighter than that of Polaris; Antares, twenty- 
times; Rigel, forty, and Canopus, one hundred! 

Halley's comet, which was visible the last time in 1910, makes 
a circuit of ten billion miles once every seventy-five years, 
approximately, going at an average speed a trifle less than four 
and a half miles a second. 

The mind is simply dazed when contemplating such wonders 
of the universe. And yet there is something more wonderful 
than any or all of these combined. Reflect upon these words in 
the eighth Psalm : "When I consider thy heavens, the work of 
thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained ; 
what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, 
that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower 
than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor." 

NEGLIGENCE. 

AT THE DEAD-LETTER OFFICE. 

Study concentration of the mind upon every duty, no matter 
how small. The habitual carelessness of thousands of people is 
nowhere better demonstrated than in the fact that twelve million 
letters and parcels go to the dead-letter office at Washington 
every year, and also eight million post-cards. In most cases the 
fault is either due to incorrect addresses or failure to put name 
and address of senders upon the things mailed. 

FOOLISH BUILDERS. 

The North Pacific coast was swept by a severe storm on 
October 6, 1913, laying in ruins the city of Nome, the once 
famous mining-camp of Alaska, because its buildings rested 
upon the sands of the beach. One magazine, in its report of the 
disaster, contained the significant heading, "City Built upon the 



172 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



Sand Wrecked by Storm," and said: "When the storm drove 
the sea over the long, sloping beach, the waves beat down the 
flimsy shacks, destroyed the frame stores, and left a straggling 
line of wreckage along the coast." 

Jesus closed his Sermon on the Mount with these words: 
"Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them 
not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house 
upon the sand ; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and 
the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell; and great 
was the fall of it." 

THE LIGHT WAS DIM. 

Many years ago a steamer coming up the Firth of Clyde on 
a stormy night crashed into a ship lying at anchor. Several 
lives were lost and much damage done. The disaster was due 
to the fact that the anchored ship had allowed her light to grow 
dim for want of oil. 

Neglect of duty is a serious thing. We must remember there 
is the sin of omission as well as commission. "He that knoweth 
to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." 

AS EXPLAINED BY TOMMY. 

The boy came home from school, with eyes red, and hung his 
head shamefacedly. In answer to questions from his fond par- 
ents as to what was the trouble, he meekly replied : 

"I've been thrashed for something I didn't do." 

"What a shame !" exclaimed the father and mother in chorus. 
"And how unfair! What was it, Tommy?" 

"A sum in arithmetic," came the brief reply. 

This puts the "sin of omission" in a new light. 

"NOBODY EVER TOLD ME." 

A home missionary visited a dying boy in a gypsy tent. Bend- 
ing over him, he said: "God so loved the world that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 173 



perish, but have everlasting life." The boy heard and whispered : 
"Nobody ever told me." 

From this incident Mrs. Slade put into words the well-known 
song, "Tell It Again," the first verse of which introduces the 
theme as follows: 

"Into the tent where a gypsy boy lay, 
Dying alone at the close of the day, 
News of salvation we carried; said he, 
'Nobody ever has told it to me.' " 

OBSTACLES. 

ORCHESTRA OF CRIPPLES. 

Portland, Oregon, has an orchestra of men with only one 
arm each, says Popular Mechanics. The instruments played are 
piano, violin, cello, cornet, trombone, mandolin and drums. This 
unique orchestra is in great demand. 

And yet many persons with no apparent physical handicap 
fail to equip themselves for service in any capacity. 

"HAYSTACKS ON STILTS." 

In some portions of China large areas of hayfields are 
flooded by the heavy rains following harvest-time, consequently 
the hay is stacked on living trees, growing tall and straight, 
thatched at the top. Cared for in this way, there is no injury 
or loss to the crop, notwithstanding the grounds beneath are 
covered with water for some time. 

If you discover a tendency in your thoughts to dwell on low 
things, "stack them higher up," above all that would corrode or 
tarnish. 

THE THING THAT COUNTS. 

Perhaps you have stood on the shore of some lake, watching 
sailboats moving in different directions, regardless of the course 
of the wind. The same breeze carries one this way and another 
that. Two young men of equal opportunities start out in life, 



174 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



one succeeding and the other failing. One "tacks his sails" in 
such a manner as to make a contrary wind his helper, while the 
other permits it to drive him to despair and defeat. 

"One ship goes east, another west, 

By the selfsame winds that blow. 
'Tis the set of the sail and not the gale 

That determines the way they go. 
Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate 

As we voyage along through life. 
'Tis the set of the soul that determines the goal, 

And not the calm or the strife." 

i 

MILLIONS FOR BRIDGES. 

New York had spent, up to 1914, the sum of $100,000,000 for 
bridges over the East River, to say nothing of railroad tunnels. 
Owing to the restricted land area of the original site, the expend- 
iture was necessary to the city's growth. 

If you feel handicapped and restricted because of certain cir- 
cumstances in your life, don't be content to "stand still," and 
say there's no more chance for you. Bridge the obstacles that 
surround you, and thus make room for constant growth and 
development. It may require the .expenditure of great effort, 
but the joy of doing, of conquering, will more than repay. 

AIR PRESSURE IN TUNNELS. 

Experiments have demonstrated that a train in the Simplon 
tunnel, going at a rate of thirty-seven miles an hour, meets a 
resistance of air pressure measuring 13.86 pounds a ton of train 
weight, when running in the direction of the ventilating current, 
and 20.46 when going in the opposite direction, as against only 
8.8 pounds in the open air. To reduce the resistance, a new 
$9,000,000 tunnel was decided upon, paralleling the other, with 
numerous cross-tunnels connecting them, thus promoting an 
equilibrium between the air masses in the tunnels. — Adapted 
from Popular Mechanics. 

Bad habits are to the individual what tunnel walls are to the 
train — they persistently resist all his efforts to succeed, pressing 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 175 



in upon him with multiplying power in proportion to his efforts 
to advance. The man in the "open air" of freedom from such 
hindrances makes better headway, and does it much more easily. 

LIFTING BOULDERS. 

The remarkable force exerted by growing plants has often 
been illustrated by the ease with which roots of trees disrupt 
sidewalks and curbs. Popular Mechanics says they have been 
known to raise boulders weighing eighteen tons, and that there 
is a case on record where a sapling grew through a hole in a 
millstone, carrying it into the air. In one experiment a squash, 
harnessed to a lever, succeeded in raising a 5,000-pound weight. 
The squash itself grew to a weight of forty-seven and one-half 
pounds, and developed about eighty thousand feet of roots in 
the eighty days of the test. It is partially explained as follows : 
"In addition to the natural cell-pressure of several atmospheres, 
mechanical hindrances seem to act as a stimulus, resulting in 
incredible strength." 

Here we see that even in nature obstacles act as a stimulus, 
and serve to add strength to growing vegetation. In character- 
building we might say that opposition, or hindrance, is almost 
indispensable if unusual strength of character is to be developed. 
Instead of giving way to obstructions, let them act as a stimulus 
for far greater effort. Victory comes with the effort. 

OLD AGE. 

A LONG PASTORATE. 

The Rev. Edward Robie, of Greenland, New Hampshire, 
preached for the same church more than half a century, and 
even when eighty-three years of age took a special course of 
study at the Harvard Summer School, that he might have the 
benefit of the newest facts and latest methods in his preaching. 
When interviewed in regard to his work, he said: "There has 

12 



176 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



not been a day that I have not gained a new thought or inspira- 
tion ; and when I return to my parish I shall be better able to do 
justice to the sermons I preach." 

IMMENSE OAK-TREE. 

Near Chico, California, is a great oak, said to be the largest 
of the kind in the world. Its trunk is twenty-five feet in cir- 
cumference, and, while it is only 105 feet in height, the circum- 
ference of its branches is 446 feet. Over seven thousand per- 
sons could stand beneath them, allowing two feet to each. The 
secret of its beauty and attractiveness lies largely in the fact 
that it is alive ; that it keeps on growing. 

We all admire old men and women who keep young in heart 
because they will not think they have outlived their usefulness. 
From such the young may well learn the importance of main- 
taining a living interest in things about them as long as God per- 
mits them to remain alive in the body. 

THE APPLE BLOSSOMS. 

"When Longfellow was well along in years," writes the Rev. 
T. B. Gregory, "his head as white as snow, but his cheeks as red 
as a rose, an ardent admirer asked him how it was that he was 
able to keep so vigorous and to write so beautifully. Pointing 
to a blossoming apple-tree near by, the poet replied: 'That is 
very old, but I never saw prettier blossoms upon it than those 
it now bears. The tree grows a little new wood each year, and 
I suppose it is out of that new wood that these blossoms come. 
Like the apple-tree, I try to grow a little new wood each year/ " 

WONDERS OF THE BRAIN. 

Dr. William Prescott Appleton says: "All the cells of the 
body, except those of the brain, are different in the old person 
from the corresponding cells of the same person in youth. The 
only connecting link between the child organism and the senile 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS Ml 



organism is the brain, as it is believed that brain cells do not 
regenerate themselves." 

Dr. I. L. Nascher says mental stimulation is the most impor- 
tant measure in the hygiene of the aged; that anything which 
will cause them to take an interest in life outside of their own 
circle will benefit them. 

The connecting link between youth and age, in a spiritual 
sense, is wonderfully set forth in the command: "Honor thy 
father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land 
which the Lord thy God giveth thee." 

One of the most beautiful things in the world is a dear old 
Christian. "The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found 
in the way of righteousness." 

OPPORTUNITY. 

THE REBUKE OF A BOY. 

When Spurgeon, the great preacher, was being conducted to 
a strange church, he asked the lad with him if he loved Christ. 
"For years," replied the youth, "I have shown ministers the way 
to the chapel, but you are the first to ask me that." As a result 
of the question, a soul was won to the Saviour. 

SNOW HINDERS AND HELPS. 

In every large city a heavy snowstorm means, in one way, 
discomfort and suffering for the many poor, while in another it 
is a help. Meaning more fuel for many, it also makes more 
labor for many. Every big snowstorm in New York City pro- 
vides several days' work for twenty thousand men, who haul the 
snow from the business streets and dump it into the bay, their 
combined wages amounting to $250,000, and sometimes much 
more. 

There are but few unfortunate experiences in each life which 
may not be turned to some good account. 



178 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



TO PRESERVE EYESIGHT. 

Passing by some mines in Pennsylvania, a gentleman asked 
a boy why there were so many mules in the fields. "They are 
worked in the mines through the week," said the lad, "and are 
brought up into the light on Sunday to keep them from going 
blind." — Sunday School Chronicle. 

Men and women whose time is taken up with a variety of 
things through the week should take advantage of every oppor- 
tunity to bask in the light and warmth of Christ's church on 
Sunday, to keep from going spiritually blind. 

ADVERTISED WITH A SONG. 

The man who persistently pushes himself and his business 
to the front may sometimes lack in judgment, but we all admire 
his spirit of alertness to opportunities. The story is told of a 
real-estate agent who was also a singer. At a social gathering 
one evening he rendered "Home, Sweet Home," and was heartily 
applauded. Before taking his seat he said : "I am glad you like 
the song. There is nothing like 'Home, Sweet Home,' and let 
me say that the company I represent is selling homes on terms 
to suit everybody. If you don't want to live in one of these 
homes yourself, it's the chance of your life for an investment." 

KEPT HIS EYES OPEN. 

Many men have failed in life because they did not keep their 
eyes open in the days of youth. Grit tells of a boys' club organ- 
ized by students at school, one of whom was chosen as steward. 
At the close of each noonday meal he asked for suggestions 
regarding the meals for the next day. If none were forthcom- 
ing, he suggested. After a time he prepared bills of fare, merely 
submitting them, so satisfactory were all his arrangements. In 
finding that he could successfully cater for his associates, he 
discovered his opportunity. He had his eyes open. If he could 
cater for his schoolmates, he could cater for the public. To-day 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 179 



he has nearly a hundred restaurants, with his name on sign- 
boards in nearly every large Eastern city. 

PRESS THE BUTTON. 

A jeweler, wishing to secure effective illumination for his 
window display, at a minimum cost, placed a button outside the 
entrance, with a notice stating that the goods could be inspected 
at will by pressing it. Many passed by without seeing the glit- 
tering valuables. It was for those who would stop and press 
the button — a very little thing, but necessary if they would behold 
the beautiful exhibit. 

By the simple process of stopping to say a kind word, or do 
some little helpful deed, you may behold something far more 
beautiful than sparkling jewels. The brightness of the tear- 
smile of one you have helped or cheered will outshine diamonds. 
It may be a jewel in your soul for all eternity. "Press the 
button." It works wonders. 

FRIENDSHIP OF SHIPMATES. 

On January 25, 1904, eight shipmates of the U. S. S. "Alba-' 
tross" gave up sea-life, and stood together in front of the big 
ferry building in San Francisco. Here they quartered two pen- 
nies, each taking a piece of the coins, as a seal of his word of 
honor, and pledged themselves to meet at the same spot ten years 
later. Four kept the pact, and were there at seven o'clock on 
the evening of January 25, 1914. 

One of the number, Murray S. Johnson, of San Diego, had 
become a millionaire. He had engaged in the general merchan- 
dise business, establishing stores in different places. The others 
were cement and bridge workers, living in San Francisco, in 
moderate circumstances. The millionaire was the only one who 
had kept his broken bit of coin. 

Observe that the one who had met with the greatest success 
did not wait for opportunity to knock at his door, but went into 



180 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



business for himself; also that he was the only one who had 
kept the souvenir of their friendship when they were shipmates 
together on the old "Albatross" so long before 

PATIENCE. 

THEIR REASON. 

Persons who have been punished by being compelled to listen 
to music they didn't like, in order to please, the performer or the 
relatives, will appreciate this from the Boston Transcript: 

"Doesn't your choir sing at the prison any more?" 

"No; several of the prisoners objected on the ground that it 
was not included in their sentence." 

COST OF BAD TEMPER. 

There are physical as well as mental and moral reasons for 
controlling the temper. J. S. Goodall, in one of his lectures, 
said: "By getting into a rage the work of the heart may be 
increased from 152 to 224 foot-pounds a minute." He further 
says that if one retires at ten o'clock instead of twelve each 
night, he saves the heart 876,000 foot-pounds of work in the 
course of a year. 

HOT SPRINGS OF ICELAND. 

The stranger in Iceland may be walking over frozen ground, 
meditating upon the absence of heat in that far-north country, 
and suddenly come upon hot springs, with the water boiling up 
out of the earth — in some places utilized by women for washing 
•clothes. The hot springs in Iceland, where earthquakes are not 
•infrequent, are constant reminders of the thinness of the earth's 
crust separating the frozen region from the internal fires. 

We are surprised when a person whom we have been led to 
believe is always "cool" suddenly "boils over" with rage. Let 
this remind us of the frailty of human nature and make us all 
the more determined not to lose our temper. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 181 



THE STRANDED SHIP. 

x\ great ship was stranded on a sunken rock. When the 
suggestion was made to the captain that other ships be signaled 
and that she be dragged from the rock, he promptly protested: 
"That would be certain ruin. Let us wait till the tide comes in, 
and it will lift her up, and by its help we can reach the harbor." 
— Christian Standard. 

The tide of love will lift up those who have been stranded on 
some hidden rock of temptation, while tugging at them with 
words of harsh criticism might mean their ruin. 

QUESTIONS OF A LOVER. 

"Pay as you go," said a father to his son. "But suppose I 
have no money to pay with?" "Then, don't go." 

The same principle might be applied to persons who have 
difficulty in thinking of something to say — if you have nothing 
to say, just be patient, and say nothing. A very bashful lover, 
in order to get the conversation started, twisted uneasily in his 
seat while alone with Harriet in the parlor, and inquired: 

"How is your father?" 

"Quite well, thank you," was the simple response. 
After an awkward pause he made another effort. "How's 
your ma?" he asked, his face reddening. 
"She's very well, also, thank you." 

The silence was proving very embarrassing to him, and finally 
he blurted out : 

"How — how's your parents?" 

NOT WORTH WHILE. 

"Why didn't you tell her she was taking more than her share 
of room and was encroaching upon your rights?" asked a friend 
of a young woman who was merrily telling of an old woman 
who had taken a seat beside her in a crowded railway car, and 
who crammed numerous bundles into the small space. "It 



182 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



wasn't worth while," replied the girl; "we had such a little way 
to go together." What a motto that would be for the journey 
of life ! Unkindnesses and offenses against us may be passed 
over silently because we have "such a little way to go together." 
—Dr. J. R. Miller. 

PATRIOTISM. 

OUR BANNER. 

Your flag and my flag! And, oh, how much it holds! 
Your land and my land, secure within its folds. 
Rose-red and blood-red the stripes forever gleam; 
Snow-white and soul-white — the good forefathers' dream. 
Sky-blue and true-blue, with stars to gleam aright — 
The gloried guidon of the day, a shelter through the night. 

—W. D. Nesbit. 

THE UNFINISHED SONG. 

Edward Marshall relates in Scribner's a touching incident of 
the war of 1898 with Spain : "About a dozen of us were lying in 
a field hospital. A chorus of moans arose through the treetops. 
Amputation and death stared a number of the boys in the face. 
Suddenly a voice started softly: 

" 'My country, 'tis of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty.' 

"Others took it up, and the singing, made spasmodic by pain, 
trembled from the lips of that little group of wounded Amer- 
icans in the midst of Cuban solitude. One voice did not quite 
keep along. After the rest had finished, came the words from 
a fellow whose life was almost gone : 

" 'Land of — the pilgrims' pride- 
Let freedom — ' 

"Then it was silent. One more son had died as did the 
fathers." 

How like us all ! In the midst of our activities we are called 
away. Perhaps the unfinished songs of earth may all be taken 
up and sung in one mighty chorus in the better world, in praise 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 183 



of our Saviour, who made songs of joy and uplift possible here 
below. 

"I AM AN AMERICAN." 

One of the most novel and interesting institutions on Amer- 
ican soil is thus described in a New York paper, in telling of 
what is being done for the children of foreigners in that city: 
"No whistle at seven o'clock in the morning, no tall chimneys, no 
smoke, yet the large brick structure at Mulberry and Bayard 
Streets is a factory. If you open the door and ask to see the 
plant in operation, you will be told that it is not a manufacturing 
establishment, but a school — Public School No. 23. But do not 
be disconcerted. It is a factory, all the same, for there are 
twenty-nine different nationalities of children in that school in 
the beginning, and in the end there comes out only one, speaking 
one language — English; saluting one flag, the Stars and Stripes. 
If you ask them, they will say: "Yes, my parents did come from 
Austria, or Russia, or — but I am an American." 

This is good, but there is one thing of even far greater impor- 
tance, applicable to every nationality upon the face of the earth 
— Rom. 15:5, 6: "Now the God of patience and consolation 
grant you to be like-minded one toward another, according to 
Christ Jesus ; that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify 
God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

PERSEVERANCE. 

VALUE OF TRYING. 

Edison's storage-battery invention was the result of nine 
thousand experiments, covering a period of three years. A 
visitor, on hearing this, exclaimed: "Then, all those experiments 
were practically wasted!" "Not at all," answered the great 
inventor; "I now know nine thousand things not to do." That 
saying shows the man; a marvel of patience and tenacity. — 
'Amos R. Wells. 



184 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



NAPOLEON'S PLUCK. 

After one of his defeats Napoleon took out his watch and 
said, "We have lost the battle, but it's only two o'clock, and we 
have time to fight and win another," and the sun went down on 
a victorious army. — /. R. Miller. 

THE GENIUS OF WORK. 

Gibbon worked twenty years upon "The Decline and Fall of 
the Roman Empire." Plato wrote the first sentence in his 
"Republic" nine different ways before he was satisfied with it. 
Burke wrote the conclusion of his speech at the trial of Hastings 
sixteen times, and Butler his famous "Analogy" twenty times. 
Virgil spent seven years on his "Georgics" and twelve on the 
"^neid." He was so displeased with the latter that he attempted 
to rise from his death-bed to commit it to the flames. — "Rising in 
the World." 

THE AMERICAN WAY. 

Edison had only three months in school, yet Harvard would 
be indeed proud to count him among her alumni. It is more 
the boy than the book. His mother taught him. She had been 
a schoolteacher up in Canada. When young Edison decided to 
go to work he sought a job, but while waiting to hear from his 
application he sold newspapers on the streets. He is in the habit 
of quoting a well-known proverb thus: "Everything comes to 
him who hustles while he waits." That is the American ver- 
sion. — Amos R. Wells, in Christian Endeavor World. 

HE NEEDED COURAGE. 

Many men with original ideas have been compelled to face 
ridicule while endeavoring to put their ideas into effect. When 
George Westinghouse, inventor of the wonderful air-brake, first 
mentioned it to friends, he was called "Crazy George." Then, 
he went to Commodore Vanderbilt, the greatest railway mag- 
nate of his day, and explained his invention to him. "What!" 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 185 



said Vanderbilt, "do you mean to tell me that you can stop a 
train by wind? Go away! I have no time to waste on fools!" 

Self-confidence, courage and perseverance are needed by all 
who would make a success in life. "Be sure you are right, then 
go ahead." 

ROOM AT THE FRONT. 

Ella Wheeler Wilcox describes a familiar street-car scene, 
where, from the rear end to the center, the people are crowded 
in as thick as they can stand, while room and a strap, if not a 
seat, await at the upper end for those who will force their way 
through the crowd. 

"Life is just such a car," she writes. "There is always a 
crowd at the rear end. Scores, hundreds and thousands of peo- 
ple are hanging off the platform and jamming the center aisles, 
but at the upper end there is room. No obstacle, human or 
inanimate, has a right to keep you from moving on to where 
there is room, if you desire to go." 

THE INSIDE OF A BIG TREE. 

Lumbermen and scientists who examined a big California 
tree after it had been cut down, found that it began growing 271 
years before the birth of Christ. When it was 516 years old it 
was partly burned, the charred portions of the bark and trunk 
being visible far inside the monster. Other fires left their marks 
upon it in 1441, 1580 and 1797. The latter made an enormous 
scar, eighteen feet wide. 

W r hat a lesson in patient perseverance in overcoming obstacles 
this tree teaches ! Burned, disfigured and partly destroyed as 
the flames roared around its mighty trunk, each time it covered 
up the wounds and went on with its work. 

Everybody admires the brave man or woman who, though 
often opposed and persecuted, goes on patiently, determined to 
succeed, hiding the wounds of the past, looking cheerfully, hope- 
fully, to the future. 



186 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



A FORTUNE IN A KICK. 

The discovery of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mine, which 
had paid $14,000,000 in dividends prior to 1914, was the result 
of the kick of a mule. The men who had been prospecting there 
became discouraged and made ready to move. One of their 
mules rebelled, and, when whipped, began beating its hoofs 
against the hill, knocking out a nugget. Investigating, the men 
found a rich deposit, developing the famous mine mentioned. 
Apparent failure was accidentally turned to success. 

When you are ready to give up some project, or worthy 
undertaking, hold on a little longer. Look the ground over care- 
fully once more. Victory may be near. 

SURPRISING THE ENEMY. 

At the close of the first day of the battle of Shiloh, with 
serious Union reverses, General Grant was met by his much- 
discouraged chief of staff, McPherson, who said: "Things look 
bad, General. We've lost half our artillery and a third of the 
infantry. Our line is broken and we are pushed back nearly to 
the river." 

Grant made no reply, and McPherson impatiently asked what 
he intended to do. 

"Do? Why re-form the lines and attack at daybreak. Won't 
they be surprised?" 

Surprised they were — and routed before nine o'clock. 

"No man is defeated until he gives up." 

THE UNDAUNTED LINCOLN. 

Early in life Abraham Lincoln decided to devote his energy 
to his country's welfare, but for a long time it did not seem as 
if his country wanted his services. He ran for the Legislature 
and was defeated; tried to get the nomination for Congress and 
failed; sought an appointment in the General Land Office and 
was refused; twice in four years was defeated for the United 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 187 



States Senate; and he lost the nomination for the Vice-Presi- 
dency. Yet, despite all this, Lincoln pressed on his determined 
way toward public service, at last gaining the greatest gift in 
the hands of the people of the United States, and their appre- 
ciation of his character and ability has but grown with each 
succeeding year since his death. — Tarbell's Teachers' Guide. 

HIS FAVORITE WORD. 

The world has many persons of good intentions, who are 
always going to do something "if" — and that spoils it. A young 
man who used it so often that it might have been mistaken for 
his favorite word, was keeping company with an admirable young 
lady. He judged by remarks reaching him that she surmised 
his love for her was waning, and, wishing to correct any such 
impression, wrote a missive, closing as follows : 

"Why, dearest Clara, I would fight my way through fire to 
be with you. I would scale the highest mountain peak to be 
where you are. I would wade through floods up to my chin to 
stand by your side. Lovingly yours, Charley. 

"P. S. — If it don't rain, I will be over to see you Friday 
evening." 

BELL-RINGING RECORD. 

In 1784 a bell-ringing record of twelve thousand changes was 
established at Shoreditch. This stood unequaled for 130 years. 
In the early part of 1914 a team of campanologists made a con- 
tinuous peal of bells at the parish church at Aston-under-Lyne, 
England, from seven o'clock in the morning until half-past four 
in the evening, with a total of fourteen thousand changes. 

While at no particular church do the bells ring long, yet some- 
where the wide world round every hour of the day the peals are 
sounding forth the call to worship, the calls to service. Every 
church-bell says, in effect, "Come" and "Go." "Come unto me, 
all ye that labor and are heavy laden," and "Go ye into all the 
world and preach the gospel to every creature." 



188 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



"JUST KEEP PUSHING." 

Two boys were making their way along the street with a 
small wagon loaded with scraps of fuel picked up at the railroad 
coal-chutes, relates the Observer of Cameron, Missouri. One 
was ahead, pulling — his hat back, eyes sparkling, and whistling 
cheerfully. The other was behind, pushing, and whining almost 
constantly because he stubbed his toes, stepped on stones or 
otherwise hurt himself. Finally the boy in front turned on him 
with this rebuke: 

"Of course there's stones in the road! There's always stones 
and sticks in the road, and a feller's got to get over 'em the best 
way he can. It don't help any to howl and tell everybody when 
you strike 'em, either. Just shut your face and keep pushing." 

Many older persons could profit by this boy's view of things. 

"OPPORTUNITY." 

They do me wrong who say I come no more, 
When once I knock and fail to find you in; 

For every day I stand outside your door 

And bid you wake and rise to fight and win. 

Wait not for precious chances passed away; 

Weep not for golden ages on the wane; 
Each night I burn the records of the day — 

At sunrise every soul is born again! 

Though deep in mire, wring not your hands and weep; 

I lend my arm to all who say, "I can!" 
No shamefaced outcast ever sank so deep 

But yet might rise and be again a man. 

— Walter Malone. 

HE GOT HIS MAN. 

During the Civil War "an Indiana regiment was sent into 
battle before the recruits had received any training. They were 
ordered to charge. When they encountered the fire of the 
enemy, wavered, broke, and fell back, one young soldier kept 
straight on. He had heard the order to capture the entrench- 
ment. When he reached the parapet and climbed it, he encoun- 
tered a gunner ready to fire. He instantly seized him, whirled 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 189 



him about, and, finding him alone, started for his regiment with 
his prisoner. The enemy did not shoot, fearing to kill their own 
man, and the raw recruit came safely back. To the astonished 
questioning of his comrades as to where he got the man, he 
replied: "Why, up there! And there's lots more of them up 
there. All of you fellows might have had one if you had only 
kept on." — Sunday School Times. 

RESULT OF DAY-DREAM. 

The African railroad from Cape Town to Cairo and Alex- 
andria cost $300,000,000, writes Prof. A. L. Larkin, but it opened 
regions of almost fabulous wealth, touching salt deposits, gold 
fields, coal mines, dye and precious woods, of a total estimated 
value of $22,000,000,000, to say nothing of marketing the rich 
products of the soil. This all came about as the result of a day- 
dream of Cecil Rhodes as far back as 1890. 

The great enterprise required the work of two million men, 
and the construction of twenty-three thousand culverts and 
eleven thousand bridges. Seven rivers were diverted from their 
course, three lakes changed in their beds and a small mountain- 
range almost leveled. 

So must men press forward, overcoming all sorts of obstacles, 
if they would add to the wealth of character in the world. But 
it pays. The joy of conquering self and adverse surroundings 
can not be estimated in money values. 

REMARKABLE BLIND PHYSICIAN. 

The success of those who overcome serious handicaps should 
spur the average person on with a courage that would know no 
defeat. The world is quite familiar with the triumphs of Helen 
Keller, deaf and blind. John Pierto, of New York City, although 
blind, learned to operate a linotype machine, thus earning thirty 
dollars a week, and also plays the piano, says the Boys' World. 
R. H. Moulton writes of the success of Dr. Jacob W. Bolotin, 



190 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



who was born blind. He determined to become a doctor, and 
permitted nothing to turn him from his decision. At the age 
of twenty-five he was appointed attending physician of the Illi- 
nois Tuberculosis Hospital, rilling the position with honor. 

The promise in Isa. 42 : 16 has practically been fulfilled in 
this age of wonderful achievements: "I will bring the blind by 
a way that they know not; I will make darkness light before 
them, and crooked places straight. These things will I do, and 
I will not forsake them." 

ONE NIGHT'S WORK. 

Col. Theodore Kitching, who was private secretary to Gen- 
eral Booth, of the Salvation Army, relates that over twenty-five 
years ago, when he returned one morning from a short trip, he 
found out the head of the great movement had been up all night. 
In answer to the question as to why he had not retired, he 
pushed toward his secretary several sheets of paper, on each of 
which was a verse of four lines. It was the wonderful song, 
"Boundless Salvation," which has swept around the world, and 
has been translated into every language used by the Salvation 
Army to carry its messages of deliverance from sin. The spirit 
and stirring power of the song are well set forth in the first 
two verses 

"O boundless salvation' Deep ocean of love! 
O fullness of mercy Christ brought from above, 
The whole world redeeming, so rich and so free, 
Now flowing for all men — come, roll over me! 

"My sins they are many, their stains are so deep, 
And bitter the tears of remorse that I weep; 
But useless is weeping; thou great grimson sea, 
Thy waters can cleanse me; come, roll over me!" 

If you have never heard this soul-thrilling song, visit any 
Salvation Army post and request the soldiers of the cross there 
assembled to sing it. You will surely say that one whole night 
was not too much time to give to such a composition. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 191 



PERSONALITY. 

NAPOLEON'S CRITICS. 

He succeeds best who does the best he can. No one can do 
his best who endeavors to imitate another. Be yourself. Use 
the mind God has given you. Napoleon was severely criticized 
by the Austrian generals whom he had defeated because he "did 
not fight according to rule," they said. "He departs from all 
established precedent, marches at night, takes his antagonists 
unawares, and does all sorts of extraordinary things. He gains 
victories by being an ignoramus in the art of war." 

PROMOTION THROUGH OBEDIENCE. 

Mr. Tobin, who became a millionaire and president of the 
Hudson River Railroad Company, began life as a steamboat 
clerk with Commodore Vanderbilt, who gave the youth two 
orders : first, to collect fare of everybody who rode on the boat ; 
second, to start on time and wait for no one. The Commodore 
then lived at Staten Island. Tobin obeyed orders so literally 
that he collected fare from the Commodore on the first evening, 
and left him on the wharf the next morning, as the boat could 
not wait. He was coming down leisurely some distance away, 
supposing, of course, the boat would wait for him. He was so 
pleased with Tobin that he made him his confidential clerk, from 
which time the young man's progress was rapid. — Practical 
Encyclopedia. 

REAL ATTRACTIVENESS. 

Santa Fe, New Mexico, the oldest city in the United States, 
except St. Augustine, existed as an Indian town as early as 1542, 
and was founded in 1605. Naturally it possesses landmarks of 
great interest, and its citizens systematically seek to preserve its 
distinctive characteristics. In this they show wisdom, giving 
their city an attractiveness it could not otherwise possess. 

Personality, individuality, is the most attractive thing about 
13 



192 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



people as well, and yet hundreds, thousands, lose this charm in 
their efforts to conform to so-called customs and styles. In 
many a social gathering there is just about as much of the charm 
of personality manifested as would be seen in a brood of young 
chickens all the same size and color. 

POWER. 

)/ 

STRENGTH OF INSECTS. 

That the power of insects is prodigious has been demon- 
strated by the experiments of French naturalists and others. It 
appears that the smallest insects are strongest in proportion to 
their size. A horse can scarcely bear two-thirds of its own 
weight, while one small species of June beetle is able to lift 
ninety-nine times its own weight. Were the strength of man in 
proportion to that of the beetle, it is pointed out, he could play 
with weights equal to ten times that of a horse. 

But we do not estimate the real power of man in this way. 
"As a man thinketh, so is he." One may weigh less than a hun- 
dred pounds, and yet far surpass tens of thousands of others of 
average or unusual weight, in all that goes to make up genuine 
strength of character and influence for good. Heart-power is 
the test. 

MONEY WELL SPENT. 

The Roosevelt dam in Arizona cost the people $3,000,000, and 
irrigates 220,000 acres of once useless land in the Salt River 
Valley. The expense was large, but in one year alone the crops 
raised yielded $5,000,000. 

It costs parents more than money to raise a son or daughter 
right. It calls for sacrifice of time, of personal comfort; per- 
haps many sleepless nights by the bedside of a sick one ; perhaps 
heartaches and tears ; but we do not insult any father or mother 
by asking if it pays, when they can see coming into the lives of 
their offspring, and thus back into their own, the riches of 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 193 



blessings in noble characters beyond any money value that might 
be mentioned. It pays big. 

INCREASING CAPACITY. 

Several years after the great Assouan dam in Egypt had been 
constructed, its height was increased twenty-six feet. The extra 
supply of water thus obtained from the river Nile irrigates an 
additional million acres of land each year. 

Whatever we may accomplish in life, we should remember 
that we simply use what God provides, and that back of it all 
is the power of life which he puts into the rain and the sun- 
shine. "So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he 
that watereth, but God that giveth the increase," says Paul — 
which is just as true of things material as of things spiritual. 

PRAYER. 

ALONE WITH GOD. 

At the time of General Gordon's first sojourn in the Soudan 
there was one-half hour each morning during which a handker- 
chief lay outside his tent; and the whole camp knew the full 
significance of that small token. No message, however pressing, 
was carried in then. Every man understood that God and Gor- 
don were alone in there together. — Hurlbut. 

INCIDENT OF THE SEA. 

Professor Drummond gives this striking illustration : "A gen- 
tleman and wife, with two children, a boy and a girl, were cross- 
ing the ocean. While playing, the boy dropped his rubber ball 
on the deck and it rolled overboard. He rushed to the captain, 
demanding that he stop the boat and recover it. The captain 
explained that it could not be done. A few days later was heard 
the cry, 'A man overboard !' Instantly the ship's machinery was 
stopped, lifeboats were lowered and the endangered life saved." 

The application made by Mr. Drummond was that for a 



194 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



trivial thing God will not interfere with the laws of creation, 
but where a man's soul is at stake God will stop the machinery 
of the universe, if necessary, to save him. 

THE BOYS OF THE NAVY. 

In an address made at a great reception in New York, where 
sixteen hundred men from the United States battleships were 
present, Secretary Daniels, of the navy, made this important 
statement : "I would like to say to you that I would not dare try 
to meet the obligations of life, nor fulfill the duties of my office 
with reference to more than fifty thousand men in our navy, did 
I not daily invoke the help and power that comes only from the 
Almighty." 

"ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH." 

During the Civil War fourteen inmates of Andersonville 
Prison, on August 20, 1864, bowed in prayer to the Almighty 
that he would send them water; and a spring broke out on the 
outside of the wall and ran through the prison. The people 
there were unanimous in their belief that it was of divine origin, 
the water in the near-by stream being fearfully unwholesome. 
The spring is reported to be still flowing. — Christian Endeavor 
World. 

GOT THE JOB AND MADE GOOD. 

William H. Ridgway writes: "A boy stopped me in the post- 
office one day and asked: 'Mr. Ridgway, is there any chance to 
learn the machinist's trade at your shop?' I told him there was 
no opening for a year. Then he went down to the works and 
asked Mr. Finnegan the same question. 'Not unless some fellow 
quits,' he was told. Almost every Saturday that boy came to 
my office with the question: 'Mr. Ridgway, any chance for a 
job yet?' After several weeks I said to Finnegan: Tor good- 
ness' sake, give that Wollerton boy a job. He really wants to 
be a machinist/ He turned out to be one of the best boys we 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 195 



ever had, and the last I heard of him he was at the head of a 
big shop in the West. When God's 'boys' come to him as this 
boy came to me, he will believe they really want what they ask, 
and they will get it." 

HEARD MUSIC TWO HUNDRED MILES. 

A marvelous instance of wireless transmission is given in the 
London Daily Mail. It says the strains of a gramophone, play- 
ing "God Save the King," were heard by wireless in the steam- 
ship "Highland Scot," during a voyage to Buenos Ayres. It 
was afterward found that the boat from which the music came 
was a private yacht, two hundred miles away. 

If man is capable of constructing equipments by which code 
messages may be sent thousands of miles, and music distinctly 
heard a distance of two hundred miles without transmission by 
wire, it should not be a cause for wonder that God, the Creator 
of all things, can hear those who call upon him from any part 
of the world; or that the inspired John caught the music of 
heaven, as recorded in Rev. 14 : 2, 3 : "And I heard the voice of 
harpers harping with their harps; and they sung as it were a 
new song before the throne." 

IN TOUCH WITH THE CAPTAIN. 

A helmet and mask for firemen has been invented to which 
may be attached two long, narrow, portable hose, the ends of 
which enter the helmet exactly as similar ones enter a diver's 
cap. Through one of these fresh air is pumped by a fireman on 
the street, even though the one fighting the fire may be in the 
midst of smut and smoke, while the other hose is a speaking- 
tube, enabling the man in the burning building to communicate 
with or receive orders from the captain in command. 

It is sometimes necessary for persons engaged in efforts to 
save endangered souls from the flames of appetite and passion 
to enter places where the surroundings are evil, the air foul 



196 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



with profanity and vulgarity, where the voice of conscience has 
apparently been shut out. It is the privilege of such workers, 
by keeping in touch with God through prayer, to receive from 
him the pure air of unselfish love, thus keeping the thoughts 
clean, and to receive from him wisdom as to the best course to 
pursue in fighting the fires of wrong. 

HOW HE SUCCEEDED. 

Pastor Gossner sent into the foreign field 144 missionaries. 
He never had less than twenty dependent upon him for support. 
How he carried on this and other Christian work, a sentence 
from the funeral address read over his grave will explain: "He 
prayed up the walls of a hospital and the hearts of the nurses; 
he prayed mission stations into being and missionaries into 
faith; he prayed open the hearts of the rich, and gold from the 
distant lands." — Robert E. Speer. 

PREJUDICE. 

SIX WORDS SUFFICIENT. 

After a two days' contest over the estate of a man who died 
in Virginia, the law and equity court wherein it took place 
decided that the words, "I leave all to my wife," constituted a 
legal will. 

Strange that any one should have contested it. Many, how- 
ever, are so strongly inclined in favor of set forms and extended 
phrases, not only in legal matters, but in other things as well, 
that anything out of the rut of custom strikes them as being 
inadequate. 

A FREAK OF VISION. 

A New Jersey boy, because of a strange deformity of the 
eyes, saw everything upside down. Many persons who visited 
the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 will remember the "upside- 
down" house, in which the people and the articles of furniture 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 197 



appeared to be inverted. It is said the deception was wrought 
by the ingenious use of mirrors. 

You may know individuals who find but little in life of which 
they approve. Tell them of the New Jersey boy. Remind them 
that our impressions are largely due to the way we look at things. 
Let's be sure the fault is not ours before complaining that 
"everything's going wrong." The devil is an expert in the use 
of mirrors. 

SUGAR-COATED COURTESY. 

Politeness enforced may be better than open contempt for 
another, but the sugar-coating is often in evidence. Senator 
Beveridge tells of two famous physicians, of different schools, 
who were introduced at a reception. As they shook hands, one 
remarked softly to the other: 

"I am glad to meet you as a gentleman, sir, though I can't 
admit that you are a physician." 

"And I," said the one thus addressed, smiling faintly, "am 
glad to meet you as a physician, though I can't admit you are a 
gentleman." 

PREDICAMENT OF A BABE. 

The curiosity of a crowd in a Chicago street-car was aroused 
by the sight of a mother getting on with a baby in her arms 
which had a tin bucket over its head. Observing the wonder- 
ment of some of the passengers, she explained that its head got 
caught in the pail while playing, and she was taking it to a 
plumber to have the bucket removed. While the child could not 
see, and evidently did not understand what the trouble was all 
about, it showed great displeasure by its spasmodic movements. 

The babe's predicament is a picture of those who go through 
life blinded by prejudice. They can not understand why they 
appear so ridiculous in the eyes of others, and make themselves 
disagreeable by their wails of complaint. They should hunt up 
a plumber and have the bucket removed from over their eyes. 



198 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



PREPARATION. 

IN THE DARK ROOM. 

The photographer takes his sensitive plate into a dark place 
to develop his picture. Sunlight would mar it. God often draws 
the curtain upon us, and, in the darkness, brings out some rare 
beauty in our life, some delicate feature of his own loveliness. — 
George W. Abernathy. 

FROM JUBILEE TO FUNERAL. 

While the bells of a Pittsburgh church were pealing for a 
procession in celebration of the silver anniversary of the priest, 
he dropped dead, and the jubilee was turned into a funeral. In 
his preparation for the one he was ready for the other. 

"He who is best prepared to live is best prepared to die." 

WHEN FACING DEATH. 

A clergyman who served many years in one parish kept 
account of the number of those he visited who, in prospect of 
death, apparently experienced a change of heart. Out of two 
thousand who recovered, only two proved their repentance to 
be sincere. One thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight 
returned to their former attitude of indifference toward God. 
— Sunday School Executive. 

THE COMB OF CONSCIENCE. 

In making rope of the first grade, a machine is used for 
combing out the snarls, loose tow and dirt, otherwise the rope 
would be weakened from the start, and not able to stand the 
heavy strains later on. 

Every growing boy should use the fine-tooth comb of con- 
science, and remove from his life all the "snarls, loose talk and 
unclean habits." Those who do this will be more agreeable to 
others, and far stronger for the duties, blessings and enjoyments 
of life. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 199 



LOOKING AHEAD. 

Notwithstanding certain causes produce certain effects, many- 
go ahead blindly, not stopping to count the cost. Mrs. Harris 
asked her husband if she should write and accept Mrs. Brown's 
invitation for Bobby to attend her boys' party on the 20th. 
"Yes," the father thoughtfully replied, "and while at it you'd 
better write to Dr. Walker to call on the 21st." 

THE ARTIST'S PRECAUTION. 

An artist, who invited a friend to his studio to show him his 
picture, first kept him in the dark room for fifteen minutes. He 
then explained that if he had come into the studio with the 
glare of the street in his eyes, he would not have been able to 
appreciate the fine colors on the canvas. The "shut-ins" may 
be only having their eyes prepared to see the wonderful vision 
of the Father's love.— W. R. Clark. 

COMPLETE OUTFIT. 

It is related of a native Chinese preacher that he addressed 
a large conference of workers as follows: "Ask the Master for 
Peter's hook to bring up fish; David's crook to guide the sheep 
aright ; Gideon's torch to light up the dark places ; Moses' guid- 
ing-rod; David's sling to prostrate your giant foe; the brazen 
serpent to cure the bites of the world's snakes; for gospel seed 
with no tares in it, and, above all, for the wonderful Holy 
Spirit to help at all times." — /. Ellis. 

EVERY WIRE TESTED. 

While the great Brooklyn bridge was building, the chief 
engineer one day showed me a peculiar sort of a machine. It 
was composed of great wheels set over against each other, 
revolving in opposite ways, pulling steadily on the wires which 
were to go into the huge cables of the bridge. A tremendous 
strain was brought to bear upon each wire to see whether it was 



200 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



strong enough for the high place and dignity of a share in the 
majestic cables whence the roadway was to hang. — Rev. Wayland 
Hoyt. 

IMMENSE FLAG-POLE. 

A western Canadian city has a flag-pole in front of its court- 
house 208 feet tall, all in one piece — a single fir-tree weighing 
ten tons. It is three feet in diameter at the base and ten inches 
at the top. When brought from the forest it was left to "season" 
for a year, in order to make sure that it would be strong and 
straight. 

The men chosen for the high places in life are those who 
have grown "strong and straight" in character, and who have 
been "seasoned" by resisting temptations until they were at last 
able to overcome them all. 

BATHING AN ELEPHANT. 

A writer in Our Dumb Animals says it requires 150 pounds 
of soap to give an elephant in captivity a bath, and for the finish- 
ing touches, olive oil worth $150. 

We all know that a piece of soap as large as a marble is 
sufficient for a bath for the average boy — if the boy is consulted 
beforehand. We should prepare for any work in proportion to 
its requirements. Failure is safely predicted for many under- 
takings for the simple reason that the equipment is not com- 
mensurate with the work to be done. 

RUNNING THE LAST LAP. 

The boy chosen for the last lap in the one-thousand-mile Y. 
M. C. A. relay race from New York to Chicago a number of 
years ago was not at his post the instant the message was to be 
received by the one who should make the final sprint, so the 
responsible place was given to William McCabe, of the Evan- 
ston Association. Because he was capable and on hand he was 
afforded the honor and the pleasure of handing to the mayor 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 201 



of Chicago the words of greeting from the mayor of New York. 

Positions of honor and responsibility are always for those 
who are ready to step into them. 

A BUOY PLAYS HOOKEY. 

The marine department of the Canadian Government, at Yar- 
mouth, Nova Scotia, received notice that one of its buoys from 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence had been picked up in Australian 
waters. It had slipped its moorings in some way and had been 
adrift for two years in many seas, thus rendering no service 
to its own or any other country. 

Many a youth has slipped the moorings of home influences 
and drifted far away before being overtaken by some good soul 
on the sea of life and returned to a place of purpose once more. 
My boy, don't be like the other ''buoy." Have an aim. Be fixed 
in your determination to prepare for a place of usefulness in 
the world, so your friends will know "where to find you." 

MUST GO WHEN CALLED. 

Men in the employ of railroad companies must be ready to 
respond to the call for service at any time. In a great section 
of one of the cities the houses are nearly all occupied by the 
employes of a certain railway corporation. One of the require- 
ments is that they must live within eight blocks of the yards, 
that they may act promptly when suddenly summoned to labor. 
Some are called at midnight, some at 2 a. m., and others at 
5 a. M. 

Men and women in the service of Christ, for making the 
world better, are expected to respond at a moment's notice to 
render any help possible. Those who are thus prepared are 
always ready to answer the last call. In the twelfth chapter of 
Luke we read: "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord 
when he cometh shall find watching. ... Be ye therefore ready 
also, for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." 



202 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



MORE WOMEN THAN MEN. 

According to a European statistician, 105 boys are born to 
every 100 girls — and yet there are more women than men. He 
finds that from the thirty- fifth to the seventieth year the mor- 
tality among men is greater than among women. Because of a 
finer perception of her powers of endurance, he believes, woman 
stops when her perception warns her of fatigue, obtaining the 
needed rest, in preparation for renewed effort. A man does not 
stop until his power is exhausted. 

"Every wise woman buildeth her house ; but the foolish 
plucketh it down with her own hands" (Prov. 14:1). "The 
merciful man doeth good to his own soul, but he that is cruel 
troubleth his own flesh" (Prov. 11:17). 

WHEN THE WAY SEEMS CLOSED. 

While studying a cocoon, a naturalist heard a tiny, beating 
noise inside, and knew it was a butterfly struggling to be free, 
says the Christian Observer. With a lancet he cut away the 
fragile walls and released the little prisoner. To his amazement, 
it lay struggling on the table, too weak to walk or fly, and soon 
died. It had been released before developing sufficient strength 
to take its place in the beautiful world of flowers and sunshine. 

When the way seems closed to you, dear reader, do not 
become restless, but faithfully do the work nearest at hand. 
Perhaps you are not yet strong enough for the task God has 
waiting for you. Lessons in patience, perseverance, surmounting 
small obstacles, may be necessary in order to give you the 
strength for later surmounting larger ones and doing a far 
greater work. 

THE MIDNIGHT ALARM. 

Two hundred and fifty students, fifty instructors and as 
many maids in one of the large dormitories of a well-known 
college were awakened at night by the dread sound of the fire- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 203 



gong. They immediately closed their windows and transoms, 
and ten seconds later, when the next alarm was given, marched 
into the halls in perfect order, and out into safety. The build- 
ing was completely destroyed, but not a life was lost. The fire- 
drill, which had been part of the training at this college for 
thirty years, made the remarkable escape possible. 

Every young man and woman should prepare for the mid- 
night alarm. Daily training along right lines will beget such a 
spirit of calm, courage and self-control that when the sudden 
temptations to do wrong come in the dark and discouraging 
hours they will find themselves prepared to resist, successfully 
and gloriously. 

LOOKING AHEAD. 

A comparatively young man, serving as railway division 
superintendent, wrote in August to his superiors for three snow- 
plows, to be furnished as soon as possible. When asked why 
he made such a request in warm weather, he replied : 

"I want to be prepared. I know my division." 

He was denied, the officers over him laughing at what they 
considered his needless anxiety. In December of that year 
heavy snows blockaded the tracks, and the company lost heavily 
through inability to keep the right of way open to trains. The 
young man was later censured for his lack of preparation for 
such an emergency. He referred them to his letter of the pre- 
ceding August, and they found him blameless, as they reread 
the words quoted above. 

Whatever your work, young man, look ahead. 

WHY HE WAS READY. 

James J. Hill, of the Great Northern Railway system, shows 
in the following instance the importance of a boy having his 
eyes open to what is going on around him : A youth, who had 
acted as messenger in one of the main offices of the company 
for several years, had his desk next to the clerk above him. 



204 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



One day the young man was taken ill and obliged to leave the 
service. Owing to the nature of the work, it was necessary to 
have some one take his place immediately. The messenger-boy 
volunteered, declaring he could do it, and, when the chief clerk 
laughed incredulously, begged for a trial of half a day, which 
was granted. He took hold with an alertness and comprehen- 
sion of his duties that startled all about him. He made good. 
In answer to the question of the chief clerk as to how he could 
instantly step into such a responsible place, he replied: 

"Well, it's the desk nearest me, and I studied what the clerk 
was doing — studied all the time. I thought some day you might 
need a new man there and I got ready." 

MAN AND TREE END LIFE TOGETHER. 

Passing away at the age of eighty-five years, a farmer in 
Pennsylvania was buried in a coffin made of wood from a wal- 
nut-tree he planted and cared for all his life. This was in 
accordance with his expressed wish. 

While this man, by his own labors, produced that which 
finally enclosed his remains, so do we all, by our deeds, prepare 
for the furnishing of "the home of the soul." Will it be beau- 
tifully furnished, or otherwise? The important thing is not to 
be greatly concerned about the care of the body, but to be very 
careful as to "the deeds done in the body"; not that the casket 
shall be made from any certain tree, but that the earth-life may 
he so spent that at its close may be claimed the promise in Rev. 
22 : 14 : "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they 
may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through 
the gates into the city." 

"AS SILVER IS TRIED." 

A writer in the Christian Herald says she called on a silver- 
smith with the request that he explain to her the process of 
refining, and that he said: "I sit with my eyes steadily fixed on 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 205 



the furnace, since, if the silver remain too long, it is sure to be 
injured.'"' 

"And how do you know when it is sufficiently refined?" 

"When I see my own image reflected in it, I know the 
process is completed/' 

Commenting upon this as she recalled the text in Malachi, 
"And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver," she wrote 
as follows : 

"Surely it is a beautiful image. We are His chosen vessels, 
tested and purified in the divine crucible, and then fashioned 
into the shape best fitted for his use. We all have friends who 
have been thus refined and molded. How beautiful their lives ! 
How efficient their service! Out of trial they have come forth 
as pure gold and silver. He has not tried them beyond what 
they are able to bear. He has sat before the furnace. When 
he has seen his image in their lives, he has been satisfied." 

NOT THE WAY HE LEARNED. 

Pretending to know what one does not know has caused 
embarrassment, if not some degree of failure, to many persons. 
This story, in substance, was published in the Youth's Companion 
many years ago : 

A young Irishman, who wished to join the German Army, 
could not speak that language, but thought to overcome this 
deficiency by having a friend drill him in German on the few 
questions to be asked preceding enlistment. The first would be, 
"How old are you?" The second, "How much do you weigh?" 
and the third, "Have you rations or clothing?" To the first he 
was to answer "Twenty-eight" ; to the second, "One hundred and 
eighty," and to the third, "Both." After several days, feeling 
sure of his ability to pass, he stepped confidently into the pres- 
ence of the examining officer, when that gentleman, evidently 
impressed by his fine physique, asked: "Well, sir, what do you 
weigh?" Pat supposed the examination had commenced, so 



206 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



replied, "Twenty-eight." "Oh, ho ! You surely weigh more than 
that! How old are you?" "One hundred and eighty," was the 
undisturbed answer. The officer, thinking the young man was 
making fun of him, called out, indignantly, "Are you or I a 
fool?" "Both!" promptly came the answer, abruptly terminating 
the examination. 

TESTING FOR SERVICE. 

In the great Naval Observatory at Washington is a room in 
which chronometers — clocks for keeping time on the ships of 
our navy — are tested before being sent out. They are kept 
under the most careful observation for six months, in order to 
make sure they are reliable, for they must measure time with 
the utmost accuracy. The temperature and moisture of the room 
are made as near like conditions at sea as possible. The desired 
humidity is obtained by hanging up wet clothes around the room. 
Even with all this precaution in preparation, every ship in Uncle 
Sam's navy — so states Mr. Haskins in his book, "The American 
Government" — must carry at least three chronometers. If only 
one were used, there would be no means of knowing when it 
went wrong. If two, it would be impossible to tell which was 
right and which wrong, in case of variation. So they have three, 
and when two agree it is reasonably certain the third one is 
wrong. 

We can learn of perfection from God in his wonderful works 
of nature. For instance, Professor Larkin says the speed of the 
earth in its orbital motion is 18.493 miles per second, and yet its 
movement is so perfect that its position at any given time in the 
future may be foretold by scientists with absolute certainty. 

Before men are advanced to positions of responsibility they 
must prove themselves trustworthy. It should be the ambition 
of every young man to so conduct himself that whenever the 
question of right or wrong is raised concerning any matter in 
which he has a part, he will always be found right. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 207 



PRETENSE. 

EXPOSED HER IGNORANCE. 

In pretending to discuss matters with a knowing air when 
we are not fully informed, we are liable to appear as ridiculous 
as the woman in this story from Judge : "Mrs. Simonds glanced 
at the scare head-line, 'Bank Robbed! Police at Sea!' and laid 
down the paper. 'Now, look at that, Ez !' she ejaculated; 'here's 
a big city bank broke into by burglars, and the city police force 
all off fishin' somewhere !" 

A WILD THROW. 

The desire to appear informed on certain usages may result 
in the innocent statement of more truth than it is intended to 
reveal. Judge Pinckney, says Everybody's Magazine, tells of a 
colored man who was on trial at Dawson City for felony. The 
judge asked Sam if he desired the appointment of a lawyer to 
defend him. 

"No, sah," said Sam, "I'se gwine to frow myse'f on de 
ignorance ob de cote !" 

ANTICS OF A SEA-GULL. 

When on a visit to Manchester I saw in the grounds of my 
host a sea-gull trying to amuse itself with a pie-dish. There was 
a little water in it, and the bird of the ocean was making the 
most of its swimming instinct. What a sight to see this bird, 
with its instinct for the unmeasured sea, trying to satisfy itself 
with so small a vessel ! Is not that a picture of human nature 
trying to make itself contented in the conditions of this secular 
life? — Rev. W. L. Walkinson. 

BITTER SWEET. 

The mental state of the person whose mind dwells on the 
unpleasant things of life, when there is so much of brightness 
in the world, is hard to understand. You have perhaps heard 

14 



208 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



of the man who remarked, in answer to a question as to how he 
was feeling: "Not very well. I've been enjoying poor health for 
some time." 

It is said that at a play described as "sweet and sad," where 
many were shedding tears, one man seemed much amused, even 
laughing occasionally. Finally a woman near him, who was 
sobbing, turned to him with these words: "If you don't like the 
play, you might let other people enjoy it!" 

BOY TRIES TO DECEIVE. 

Imprisoned in an Indiana jail on the charge of murdering a 
companion, a thirteen-year-old boy ate soap, hoping to make it 
appear he was subject to epileptic fits, and thus avoid being sent 
to a reform school. 

Perhaps you have known persons to assume indignation with 
the hope of deceiving others into believing they were justly 
indignant over some matter, and thus ward off suspicion of 
some wrong of which they were actually guilty. Such instances 
are not unknown to most persons familiar with police-court 
proceedings. Their very vehemence usually arouses suspicion. 

"The tongue of the wise uttereth knowledge aright, but the 
mouth of fools poureth out folly" (Prov. 15:2). 

PROGRESS. 

COINING WORDS. 

It is well to be progressive and original, but a new idea may 
be carried too far to be really effective. The word "smog" was 
coined by a weather forecaster, meaning smoke and fog. The 
Kokomo Tribune, commenting upon the departure, says: "Let's 
call a mixture of snow and mud, 'smud;' of snow and soot, 
'snoot ;' of snow and hail, 'snail/ Thus we might have a weather 
forecast as follows: 'Snail to-day, turning to snoot to-night; 
to-morrow smoggy with smud.' " 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 209 



REMARKABLE ADVANCE. 

"The black man," says Booker T. Washington, "needs no 
sympathy or pity. I thank God that I belong to a race that has 
its problem to solve and is solving it. A short time ago I visited 
Italy, and there saw a race that has been free for hundreds of 
years, and yet thirty per cent, of its people can not read or 
write. In Spain sixty per cent, and in Portugal seventy-six per 
cent, can not read or write. When Lincoln freed my race, only 
three per cent, were literate. Now sixy-three percent can read 
and write." — Michigan Christian Advocate, 1913. 

ONE DOLLAR FOR ERRORS. 

One of the largest mercantile houses in the world located 
in Chicago, pays its employes a dollar for every error in English 
one of them may find in any of the printed matter issued by the 
company. The aim is to attain to as near perfection as possible 
in this regard 

If the elimination of typographical errors is considered of 
so much importance, surely progress toward perfection in char- 
acter-building is incomparable to any other phase of life. To 
quote from Heb. 6:1: "Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the 
first principles of Christ let us press on unto perfection." 

y OX A GREAT ICE FLOE. 

Peary, the Arctic explorer, says the Missionary Review of the 
World, found that on one occasion, when he supposed he was 
traveling toward the pole at the rate of ten miles a day, he was 
being borne in the opposite direction at the rate of twelve miles 
a day, by an immense ice floe. He made the discovery only by 
looking skyward to get his bearings. 

Right intentions alone will not avail. The man who leaves 
God out of his life may possess a good negative character, but 
he must have the positive aggressiveness that comes from a life 
of faith. Without it he will discover later that he is on a floe 



210 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



which is slowly but surely bearing him away from all that makes 
for real happiness. He must look heavenward in order to go 
forward. 

AFRAID OF THE TOWER. 

When the Eiffel Tower in Paris was first erected, there was 
a storm of protests, and such well-known names as Gounod, 
Leconte de Lisle, Coppee, Bonnat and Maupassant signed a peti- 
tion against permitting it to stand, says the London Daily News 
and Leader. For many years the belief was persistent that it 
would topple to the ground. It was not until nearly a quarter 
of a century had passed that the fears of the people disappeared ; 
then many were willing to live in the shadow of the great pile 
of steel. 

Progress frequently calls forth protest or ridicule. When 
the first railroad locomotive was built and a great crowd had 
gathered to see it go, it is said an egotistical man meandered 
around, declaring: "It will never start; it will never start." 
When it finally darted away and some one asked him what he 
thought of it now, he just as firmly avowed: "It will never 
stop !" 

PROVIDENCE. 

THE FRENCH FAILURE. 

During the Revolution in France, when it was resolved to do 
away with every particle of Christian influence there, it was 
decreed that, instead of having one day of rest in seven, as 
ordained by God, they would have one day in ten. When car- 
ried into effect, even the horses in the streets broke down under 
the extra strain. One skeptic was so impressed by the fact that 
one rest-day in seven was essential to the well-being of civiliza- 
tion that he wrote: 

"So transcendent is the harmony of the proportion that, 
sooner than believe Moses pitched upon it by chance, I would 
believe some revelation had been made to him." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 211 



A WAY OF ESCAPE. 

When Spain was fast coming into power, she determined to 
take England and abolish Protestant worship. The great fleet, 
the Spanish Armada, was sent for this purpose, writes Jennie 
M. Bingham, and on board the ships were instruments of tor- 
ture, to be used in persecuting the good people of England. As 
the Spanish ships approached the shores of England, confident 
of victory, a great storm broke on the sea, wrecking them on 
every hand. Queen Elizabeth commanded that a medal be struck 
in memory of the remarkable and providential deliverance from 
the enemy, with the following from Ex. 15 : 10 : "Thou didst 
blow with thy wind, and the sea covered them." 

The Psalmist recognized the power of God in these words : 
"Above the mighty breakers of the sea, the Lord on high is 
mighty." THE INVISIBLE ARM. 

"The wireless telegraph has a long reach these days," said 
the San Francisco Examiner, in one of its 1914 issues. "Its 
latest exploit is to stretch an arm half-way across the Pacific 
and arrest two men charged with bank swindling, on board a 
ship bound for the South Seas. A few years ago they would 
have escaped." 

If man, in discovering and using laws which God has put 
in force, can speak through space without the aid of wires or 
other visible things, and thus overtake men far out at sea, 
should it be thought strange that God, the all-wise and all- 
powerful, can shape circumstances to do his will in us? To the 
thoughtful it seems far more reasonable to believe he can do 
so than that man may send messages many thousand miles on 
air-waves. 

In Ps. 139 : 9, 10 are these significant words : "If I take the 
wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the 
sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall 
hold me." 



212 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



PURPOSE. 

VALUE OF CONVICTIONS. 

Dr. David Starr Jordan, president of Stanford University, 
says: "The world steps aside to let any man pass who knows 
where he is going." Another teacher said: "It is one thing to 
know; it is another to know that you know." 

WHAT HE WROTE IN A BOOK. 

Henry F. Ashurst, elected to the United States Senate from 
Arizona, wrote his name in one of his books when a schoolboy 
of ten, at Flagstaff, and after it these words: "United States 
Senator from Arizona." He traveled a hard road, serving as 
lumber-jack, cowboy, clerk, cashier in a store, hod-carrier and 
lawyer, but he made his penned prophecy come true, because he 
had purpose, and persevered. 

POOR MARKSMEN. 

Military experts estimate that from three to five thousand 
shots are fired by small-arms for every man who is hit in battle. 

With many persons the 3,600 seconds in each hour of the 
day are wasted, with perhaps not one slight effort for the accom- 
plishing of good. Have an aim in life. Become a good marks- 
man. Make every waking moment one of worthy purpose. 

THE SEED OF EMANCIPATION. 

Lincoln began his preparation for the White House in a 
little log cabin. In his youth he went once to New Orleans with 
a raft-load of vegetables and produce to sell. He chanced upon 
the slave-market, where he saw husbands separated from their 
wives, and children sold from their parents. He said to his 
companions: "Boys, if I ever get a chance to hit this thing, I'll 
hit it hard, so help me God." He went home saying: "I'll study 
and get ready, and maybe the chance will come." The chance 
did come, and he was ready because of the purpose he had 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 213 



formed and the preparation he had made, enabling him to sign 
beneath the Emancipation Proclamation the magic words, 
"Abraham Lincoln." 

VALUE OF A SECOND. 

Realizing that an error of a minute or two might lead the 
commander of a fleet to miscalculate his position, and thus 
decide the fortunes of a battle or a war, a great observatory- 
has been established at Washington by the Navy Department, 
for the purpose of providing the exact time for its ships. A 
big master clock is kept in a hermetically sealed case in an 
isolated vault, with the temperature always the same. This 
clock is so accurate that it has run for three weeks without the 
difference of the hundredth part of a second. — F. J. Haskin. 

The person who would be reliable in any sphere must have 
a purpose and must cultivate the habit of punctuality. "On 
Time" is an important motto for all who are engaged in fighting 
the battles of life. 

WHY ONE WAS A BEGGAR. 

Two men who had been schoolmates together, both the sons 
of poor parents, met by accident on the streets of Boston, one 
asking alms before either recognized the other; then a long, 
confidential talk followed. The beggar acknowledged he had no 
purpose in life. As a boy he stood low in his studies, so left 
school for work, which he performed indifferently, losing one 
job after another, until there seemed no place for him. When 
the force in the factory where he had been employed was cut 
down, he was among the first to be laid off. 

On the other hand, the successful young man, even in boy- 
hood, had a firm purpose to prepare for a successful career, and 
he won out. The other didn't look ahead, and he lost out. It 
was not luck that made the difference, but pluck, perseverance, 
patience, purpose. 



214 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



If DO IT NOW. 

There's a motto I once saw 

Hanging on an office wall, 
That impressed me as a law 

Binding on us, one and all; 
Let us greet it with a bow — 
Here it is, sir: "Do It Now!" 

There is something to be done, 

And the doing falls on you — 
No one else — and you're the one 

Who can surely put it through. 
Why not here, sir, make the vow 
That you'll do it? Do it now. 

It may be no easy task; 

It may opposition raise; 
It may tireless effort ask; 

It may promise you no praise. 
Do not shirk it; knit your brow — 
Jump right in, and do it now. 

— Joseph Gc Gabriel. 

ALMOST RUN DOWN. 

One morning Donald observed that the big clock was striking 
the hour very slowly, and heard his Uncle John remark : "Sounds 
as if the striking part of it is nearly run down." Donald not 
only saw him wind it, but did not forget. The following Sunday 
morning, while his uncle was reading the paper, his wife came 
in and inquired if he were going to church. He replied very 
slowly: "Oh, I — I suppose so." Donald eyed him wonderingly 
as he remarked: "Why, Uncle John, that sounds as if the meet- 
ing side of you was nearly run down! Is it?" Aunt Hannah 
laughed, and Uncle John flushed as he threw the paper aside, 
saying: "Maybe it is, Donald. But we'll wind it up again and 
get a little stronger movement. Neither clocks nor people are 
of much use when the springs that ought to keep them going 
are neglected." — Forward. 

The best way to keep your interest in life from "running 
down" is to punctually wind up your "works" with the key of 
unselfish interest in others. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 215 



RESPONSIBILITY. 

THE BEAST IN THE HUMAN. 

The unnatural mother sow that devours her own offspring 
is far more merciful than the mother-woman who turns her 
children over to others for the care she should give, leaving 
them finally to drift out into the world to be devoured by the 
forces of evil. 

WHEN YOU'RE A BRICK. 

When Tommy says admiringly to Harry, "You're a brick!" 
I wonder if he knows how the saying originated. In the golden 
days of Greece an embassador once came from Epirus to Sparta, 
and was shown by the king over his capital. He expressed sur- 
prise to find no walls around the city. "Indeed," the king 
replied, "you can not have looked carefully. Come with me 
to-morrow and I will show you the walls of Sparta." On the 
following morning he led his guest out upon the plains, where 
his army was drawn up in battle array, and, pointing proudly 
to the valiant soldiers, he said: "There you behold the walls of 
Sparta — every man a brick!" — Sadie M. Harley. 

UNDER HEAVY BONDS. 

"Because of the valuable nature of the radium which they 
are to handle in giving treatment to patients, every nurse in the 
new Milwaukee Radium Hospital will be required to provide a 
bond of $100,000." 

The above appeared in the press dispatches. There are many 
methods of treatment for physical ills, but only one remedy for 
the cure of sin-sick souls. It is given in Heb. 9 : 14 : "How much 
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit 
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from 
dead works to serve the living God?" 

The bond required of all who serve in positions of respon- 
sibility under Christ's leadership is that of absolute fidelity to 



216 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



him. The command is given in Acts 20 : 28 : "Take heed there- 
fore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the 
Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, 
which he hath purchased with his own blood." 

THE LONDON TRUMPETERS. 

Since the year 1514 the city of London has had its own trum- 
peters, their duty being to march through the streets, with 
trumpets sounding, announcing the coming of some state or 
civic procession. With their picturesque robes, their stately 
step, and the loud, clear blasts from their instruments, they are 
the center of attraction. 

Every one who loves his fellow-men should count himself a 
trumpeter, a watchman of the Lord, to give warning, that the 
busy, thoughtless throngs of the city streets may not be ensnared 
by the evils so prevalent there. We can not be blameless if we 
do otherwise. In Ezek. 33 : 4-6 we read that whosoever heareth 
the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning, if the sword 
come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head; 
but if the watchman blow not the trumpet, and the people be not 
warned, and the sword come and take away any person from 
among them, his blood will be required at the watchman's hand. 

WHAT CARD-PLAYING DID. 

During the great "King's Business" revival movement in Phil- 
adelphia this story was told: "While a friend of mine was con- 
ducting a meeting a tramp came in and said: 'My father and 
mother used to sit in this pew. Seven boys used to be here in 
the Sunday-school class. One Saturday the teacher invited us 
to her home. She entertained us with music, eatables, and a 
review of the Sunday-school lesson. After awhile, being eager 
to please and hold our attention, she taught us the names of 
cards and how to play several games. We became enthusiastic 
over them, and would not give so much time to the lesson, and 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 217 



finally were off in the cotton-gins playing cards, and not going 
to her home. Later we failed to go to Sunday school. Cards, 
cigarettes, then drinking and gambling. We all at different 
times left our homes. Two of those boys have been hung, three 
are in State's- prison for life, one a vagabond like myself. All 
I wish is that that teacher had never taught us how to play 
cards/ " — Church Herald. 

PAINFUL CONTRAST. 

In one year of plenty in the United States it was estimated 
that if the grain crops for the markets could have been placed 
in one continuous line of box-cars, it would have made a train 
seven thousand miles long. That same year Kansas alone had 
approximately 8,873,000 acres of wheat, 5,500,000 acres of corn, 
and 1,470,000 acres of oats. 

In one paper giving this report, the very next item stated 
that in China at that time were two million people homeless and 
starving, due to the destruction of crops by floods in two 
provinces. 

That was a deplorable condition of affairs. But something 
just as terrible may be found in practically every large city. In 
the banks are piles of gold and silver belonging to the few. On 
the great avenues are the palaces of the rich, while not very far 
away are the many hovels called homes, where human beings 
live. Truly, the responsibility resting upon those who have an 
overabundance is great, for, as we read in Ecclesiastes, "the 
profit of the earth is for all; the king himself is served by the 
field." Again, for their own souls' good the rich should gladly 
help the poor, for "there is a sore evil which I have seen under 
the sun; namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their 
hurt." 

In the thirteenth chapter of Proverbs, verse 7, we read: 
"There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing; there is 
that maketh himself poor, yet hath great wealth." 



218 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



SACRIFICE. 

HOW TO COUNT SELF. 

"Remember, my son, you are always third," said a mother 
to her son who was leaving for college. When he reached the 
school he wrote on a card and hung it in his room : "I'm third." 
Said he to his chum, in answer to a question as to what it 
meant: "First, God; second, others; third, myself." — Lulu A. 
Hasbrouck. 

BOUGHT HOUSE TO BURN. 

Wishing to obtain a realistic fire-scene for a moving-picture 
film, a manufacturer in New York State looked about until he 
found a house that would answer his purpose, then bought it at 
no small expense. He deliberately set it on fire. During the 
burning his battery of cameras took the desired pictures, from 
which, no doubt, he made money far in excess of the cost of 
the burned building. We often get more joy by giving up some 
things than by holding on to them. 

WRECKED HIS LOCOMOTIVE. 

An engineer who was bringing a passenger-train into Joliet, 
Illinois, at a point where the track was elevated, saw an open 
switch overhead. Instantly he threw on the air-brakes to block 
the cars, and pulled out the throttle, his engine leaping ahead, 
snapping the coupling of the first coach, leaving it on the brink 
of the open street-crossing. The locomotive was overturned. 
Passengers rushed forward and found the faithful engineer 
unconscious, but alive, with his hand still upon the throttle. 

Another engineer, during the floods in a Western State, delib- 
erately ran several flat-cars off the track on the side of an 
embankment where the high waters threatened to eat away the 
road-bed. His action cost the company several thousand dol- 
lars, but saved the track, thus enabling coming passenger trains 
to pass over in safety. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 



219 



WHEN ROYALTY TRAVELS. 

On the occasion of his visit to the Sultan of Turkey at Con- 
stantinople, the Kaiser of Germany traveled with great pomp 
and splendor, making most of the trip overland, accompanied 
by eight hundred mule-drivers and three hundred waiters. The 
Shah of Persia, during a six months' tour of Europe in 1873, 
spent $10,000,000. King Edward's trip to India, when Prince of 
Wales, in 1875, cost $1,500,000, his queen mother, Victoria, pay- 
ing two-thirds of the amount out of her own private funds, in 
order that he might make a proper impression upon the native 
rulers. The tour was arranged by Sir Bartle Frere, who spent 
seven months in working out the details. — London Tit-Bits. 

The most momentous journey in the history of the world was 
that of Christ when he went to Jerusalem the last time, many 
in the multitudes spreading their garments in the way, and others 
branches of palms, while they that went before and they that 
followed, cried : "Hosanna ! Blessed is he that cometh in the 
name of the Lord!" Upon reaching Jerusalem, the whole city 
was stirred, saying : "Who is this ?" And the multitudes said : 
"This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee." 

This journey was also the most expensive in the history of 
the world, for it cost the precious, matchless life of Christ. He 
gladly made the sacrifice, not for spectacular effect in order to 
impress his power upon the rulers of that day, but to impress 
upon all, in an unmistakable way, his boundless love for a lost 
world. He spent three years in preparation for this journey 
to the cross of Calvary. Conquering death, the enemy of man, 
he lives as King of kings and Lord of all, loved and served by 
millions in each passing generation. 

DEATH TOLL OF PANAMA CANAL. 

Scarcely a great project is carried through to success without 
costing many lives. When the Panama Canal had been com- 
pleted, making it possible to accomplish in a few hours of safe 



220 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



travel what had before required many weeks of dangerous 
combat with the sea, it was announced that over two thousand 
workmen there had died from accidents or fevers. 

The greatest sacrifice the world has ever known was when 
Christ was crucified. Age upon age the wisest men of earth 
had sailed blindly forth in unsuccessful efforts to ascertain what 
lies beyond the mists of death. By his three days in the tomb, 
coming forth in glorious resurrection, Jesus solved the mystery, 
proving that for those who go with him, there are life, light and 
joy eternal beyond the grave. 

CUT OFF HIS OWN HAND. 

While operating a pump at a mine shaft in Colorado, a young 
engineer's hand was caught in the machinery. Unable to free 
himself, he cut it off at the wrist, with his pocket-knife. Had 
he refrained from doing so, for the sake of saving his hand, he 
would have lost his entire body. 

Clinging to any habit, for the sake of temporary gratification, 
may mean the loss of one's soul. Regardless of cost or effort, 
we should be as consistent in dealing with our souls as was this 
young engineer in dealing with his body. This principle is strik- 
ingly emphasized by Christ in Matt. 5 : 29, 30, where he teaches 
that even the eye must be put away if it offends — "the eye that 
giveth a lustful look" (Johnson). "And if thy right hand offend 
thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee ; for it is profitable for thee 
that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole 
body should be cast into hell." 

TRUE HEROISM. 

Willie Rugh, a Chicago newsboy cripple, who lived in the 
suburb of Gary, died in the fall of 1912, as the result of his 
lame leg being amputated that the skin from it might be used 
in grafting onto the burned body of Ethel Smith, a girl whom 
he hardly knew. After the operation he seemed to be doing well 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 221 



for a time, then pneumonia set in. When told he could not 
recover, he smiled, and said faintly: "I'm glad I done it, doctor. 
Tell her for me I hope she gets well quick." Then, turning his 
face away, he continued: "I guess I'm some good, after all." 

The response awakened by his sacrifice was as remarkable as 
the act itself. The papers far and near published the story in de- 
tail. Gary went into mourning for the boy. Public offices were 
closed, business was suspended, and the whole town turned out. 
The Masons furnished a band for the funeral, and the preachers 
■were all present, paying rich tributes to the hero discovered by 
accident and enshrined by death. A cordon of police encircled 
the cortege as it passed along the silent streets. A large sum 
of money was raised for the purpose of erecting a monument, 
and the mayor issued a proclamation in which he said: 

"The name of Willie Rugh should be remembered in Gary 
as long as the city shall last." 

SALVATION. 

THOUSANDS PASS JEWEL. 

A lost bracelet worth $3,000 lay in a tuft of exposed grass 
near York, Pennsylvania, the greater part of a winter, and was 
finally found by a gardener's son, a tiller of the soil. 

In all our large cities are exposed jewels of priceless value — 
human souls — and thousands pass them by without notice. WTien 
one comes along who is a real worker in the vineyard of the 
Lord he readily discovers and rescues the jewels, restoring them 
to their Owner and Redeemer — Christ, the Saviour of all. 

THE VALUE OF NAMES. 

The Kansas City Star explains how various firms come into 
possession of names and addresses throughout the country. Per- 
haps you order something by mail, and the house to which you 
send not only keeps the address for its own future use, but sells 



222 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



it to other firms in different lines; or, some one in your locality- 
may have sent in a list, receiving pay for the same at the rate 
of so much a name. Clerks in tax-collectors' offices frequently 
write to mail-order houses and department stores, offering to 
sell the name of every taxpayer in their county, which usually 
brings from two to ten cents each. If you have ever bought 
medicines or treatment by mail, and this becomes known, your 
name is worth from twenty-five cents to five dollars. 

This may be of no practical importance to you, "but rather 
rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10: 
20), for in Rev. 3:5 we read: "He that overcometh, the same 
shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his 
name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before 
my Father, and before his angels." 

SIGN-BOARDS IN THE DESERT. 

Signs directing travelers to the nearest water have been 
placed throughout the seventy thousand square miles of the 
"American Sahara" of the Southwest. Intense suffering from 
thirst has been the experience of many while crossing the great 
desert. 

But the thirst of the weary, dust-covered pilgrim for a 
refreshing drink is nothing compared with the thirst of the soul 
for something that earth can not supply. We find it clearly 
stated in the words of Jesus while talking to the Samaritan 
woman at Jacob's well: "Every one that drinketh of this water 
shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I 
shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give 
him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto ever- 
lasting life." 

WONDERFUL LIGHTHOUSE. 

Nearly two thousand shipwrecks have occurred off the north- 
west coast of Africa since 1655, due to storms and treacherous 
rocks. To overcome the danger, the United States, England, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 223 



Germany, France, Turkey and the Khedive of Egypt have united 
in building the Great Haven lighthouse at an expense of over 
$5,000,000, work on which was commenced in October, 1913, and 
to be completed by 1918. It faces the southern entrance to the 
Mediterranean. It is estimated the light from it may be seen 
one hundred miles on a clear night, twenty-five miles in foggy 
weather, and five miles under even the most unfavorable cir- 
cumstances, this being sufficient distance to protect vessels from 
wreckage. 

And yet how puny compared to the millions of miles God's 
great lights in the heavens may be seen. 

Men, like ships, are in danger and need light. The flicker- 
ings from the pages of history will not suffice. Since the birth 
of Christ there has been an unfailing Light, not limited by time 
and distance, showing the way of safety to every storm-tossed 
soul, for "in him was life, and the life was the light of men." 

LOVE OF LIBERTY. 

Men in prisons resort to all sorts of plans in the hope of 
obtaining their freedom, even at the great risk of their lives. 
One of the most desperate and clever attempts imaginable was 
that of James B. Clifton, in August, 1911, serving a life sen- 
tence at San Quentin, California. In some way he managed to 
saw through the bars of his cell, then slid down the outside of 
the building a height of four stories to the roof of an adjoining 
structure. From here, by the aid of a broom-handle and two 
ropes, he started to slide down an electric wire leading to a pole 
outside the prison walls, when it is supposed he lost his balance 
and grabbed the heavily charged wire. His dead body, through 
which four thousand volts had passed, was found astride the 
wall. 

Physical freedom is sweet indeed, but ten thousand times 
more precious is freedom from sin, and freedom from the 
things that bind one as with chains of iron. This liberty comes 
15 



224 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



but by the power of Christ, and is never refused those who seek 
it in faith and sincerity. "If therefore the Son shall make you 
free, ye shall be free indeed." 

UNINHABITED PALACE. 

After Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, Jr., had spent $350,000 
for a palatial residence of sixty rooms, and $125,000 in furnish- 
ings, it was destroyed by fire before she had moved in, the flames 
starting from an overheated flue. The palace was located on 
Cedar Swamp road, in the rich residential section of Long Island. 
In it were many valuable tapestries, paintings, and other treas- 
ures, and not a thing was saved. 

Fire may destroy the humble home or the palace, but nothing 
can destroy the "home of the soul" of those who are laying up 
treasures in heaven by joyfully, unselfishly living for the good 
they may do. 

"For we know that if the earthly* house of our tabernacle be 
dissolved, we have a building f fom God, a. house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens." 

SELF-CONTROL. 

THE DANGER WITHIN. 

Zeno, the father of Stoicism, taught that the only evi! that 
can come to a man is the evil that comes to him by and through 
his infidelity to his personal sense of right; that unless a man 
harms himself, nothing else can, and that he can only harm him- 
self by lending himself to vicious causes. 

WHY THEY DON'T SMOKE. 

Dr. Royal J. Dye, for many years a missionary at Bolenge, 
Africa, says that when the natives become Christians they give 
up all habits which they consider contrary to the teachings of 
the gospel, feeling that they must be different from those who 
have not taken the steo. He gives an instance of an old chief 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 225 



endeavoring to persuade some of the converts to smoke with 
him. "No," was the reply of one who acted as spokesman, 
"when we become Christians we don't smoke. If we did, we 
would smell just like the others." 

HOLDING THE REINS. 

After twenty-five years' experience, an old stage-driver 
boasted, he had never hurt a passenger, nor a horse, simply 
because he always had a firm hold on the reins. "I never let 
the horses get the start; that's the whole secret," said he. 

Very trivial things have started runaways, resulting in loss of 
life and much damage. So it may be that some apparently insig- 
nificant act will start a young man on a course of conduct that 
means ruin. It may be but a . glass of wine, resulting in an appe- 
tite that soon gets beyond control, ending in a drunkard's grave. 
Hold the reins, young man. 

THREW AWAY THE KEY. 

When a certain restaurant was opened in New York years 
ago the proprietor procured an all-night license and threw away 
the key to his door. For a quarter of a century the place was 
never closed, but finally came the imperative order that it be 
locked up at 1 a. m. every night, as were other restaurants. The 
owner was compelled to obey or give up his business. 

Those who begin to live the unrestrained life must throw 
away the key of conscience. If they heed not the "still small 
voice within," and do not mend their ways, they must pass on 
into "outer darkness." 

REBUILDING THE TRACK. 

The double track of a railroad line down the western slope 
of a mountain in the Northwest was rebuilt on a new founda- 
tion, and the grade reduced from 211 feet to 105^ feet to the 
mile — not to help up-hill traffic, strange as it may seem, but to 
make the operation of trains down the hill safer and more prac- 



226 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



tical. "Letting heavy freight-trains down the hill safely has been, 
owing to the limit in capacity of air-brake equipment," says one 
writer, "a big and uncertain job." 

Many persons who have started down-hill in life, thinking 
they can put on the brakes and check their speed at will, have 
found they could not do so, owing to the limit in capacity of 
will-power. Such would do well to rebuild their life-track as 
near "on the level" as possible, and not complain if much of the 
way is up-hill. It is much safer than the other kind. Going 
down-hill is "a big and uncertain job" for any one. 

EVIL SPEAKING. 

Men are born with two eyes, but with one tongue, that they 
may see twice as much as they say. — Cotton. 

Believe not half you hear, and repeat not half you believe. 
My uncle used to say, "When you hear an ill report about any 
one, halve it and quarter it, and then say nothing about the rest." 
— Spurgeon. 

SELFISHNESS. 

STANDARDIZING RAILROADS. 

In the early days of railroad-building in India, Australia, 
Japan and the Chinese Empire, practically every line was con- 
structed as a local proposition, without regard to others. This 
resulted finally in much inconvenience, greatly hindering the 
development of the countries, and consequently worked against 
the best interests of all concerned. In the days of China's 
awakening a movement was inaugurated for standardizing all 
of the roads in the kingdom. This improvement involved enor- 
mous expense, which could have been prevented had all lines 
been of standard gauge from the first. The cost in Japan alone 
of changing five thousand miles of narrow-gauge lines into 
standard-gauge, according to a Boston paper, is estimated at 
$150,000,000. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 227 



The person who, in his early years, starts out to "live for 
himself" may think he is following a wise course, but learns 
later that he is on a narrow-gauge line; that the developing of 
all that is best within him is being greatly hindered. It is when 
he adjusts himself to a consideration of others' interests as 
well as his own that he finds living really worth while. 

THEY FELT SAFE. 

The trait of thinking of self first is cleverly brought out in 
a story in the Christian Endeavor World. Two mechanics were 
called to a house to do some repair work on the second floor. 
The lady there thought a gentle hint might save rough treat- 
ment of her fine hardwood floors, so remarked sweetly to the 
men: "As you go upstairs you had better walk lightly, for the 
steps are polished and very slippery." With beaming coun- 
tenance one of them replied: "That's all right, ma'am. You 
needn't worry about us falling. We've got spikes in our shoes." 

CRIMES FOLLOW QUARRELS. 

Life is full of examples of disastrous results following petty 
matters. For instance, in one issue of a paper was recorded a 
dispute over a line fence in West Virginia which resulted in 
two farmers being killed and another seriously wounded; and a 
fight over a stray cow in Texas which led to the killing of a 
man and the wounding of six members of his family. 

Selfishness leads to lack of self-control. Placing the 
emphasis upon the really important things of life is the best 
cure. And nothing is more important than the spirit of "peace 
on earth, good will toward men." 

In Proverbs we have these significant words: "The integrity 
of the upright shall guide them; but the perverseness of the 
treacherous shall destroy them. . . . He that despiseth his 
neighbor is void of wisdom ; but a man of understanding holdeth 
his peace." 



228 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



SERVICE. 

WHERE PLEASURE IS FOUND. 

Prince Dr. Ludwig, uncle of King Alfonso, of Spain, once 
remarked that medicine interested him more than anything else, 
adding: "There is really no pleasure in the empty honors of 
court; pleasure exists in service." 

THE HARDER PART. 

"The leg you use must grow very tired," an onlooker 
remarked to a potter working at his wheel. "No, it's the leg 
that does nothing that gets tired," was the reply. And it is the 
people who do most in the Lord's work who are least tired. — 
Mrs. R. W. Lowe. 

MUTUAL HELP. 

"Two neighbors, one blind and the other lame, were called 
to another place. The sightless one carried the cripple, the latter 
directing the way, and thus they made the trip in safety. By 
each doing what he could, their purpose was attained." 

HIS LAST WORDS. 

Knowles Shaw, who was killed in a railway wreck soon after 
leaving Dallas, Texas, for another meeting, was conversing with 
a fellow-passenger when the crash came. His last words were : 
"What a glorious thing it is to rally men and women to the cross 
of Christ !" 

THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 

Alexander's seven wonders of the world were things of pride 
and pomp, constructed to glorify and amuse the few. Discord, 
death and misery for the many were the result of the proud 
plans of their making. To-day, if we were asked to make a list 
of the seven modern wonders of the world, we would name the 
things that contribute to human happiness and to our well-being. 
— Elbert Hubbard. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 229 



WHERE TO STEP IN. 

In the Civil War a soldier, who had lost his place, timidly- 
asked General Sherman, "Where shall I step in?" "Anywhere," 
said the general; "there is fighting all along this line." And 
that is precisely true of the great battlefield to which you and 
I belong. — H. E. Fosdick. 

LOCATING THE TROUBLE. 

If the church does not miss you when you remain away from 
the service, it is a far worse commentary upon you than upon 
the church. The fact that you are not missed is more likely to 
be due, not to the others' lack of appreciation, but rather to 
your lack of faithfulness. — The Lookout 

WHICH ARE YOU? 

The difference between a salesman and a clerk is that the 
salesman finds customers, while customers must find the clerk. 
In business for God, are you a salesman or a clerk? Must sin- 
ners find you, or do you find them? Does your church find men, 
or must men find your church? One good salesman is worth a 
dozen clerks. — The Expositor. 

SAFETY IN SERVICE. 

The rails of the track in almost constant use are bright and 
shining. On the others the rain settles and they rust. If our 
life is hid in Christ, the rains of sorrow, affliction, adversity and 
temptation may come upon it, and it will always shine; while 
the life not hid in Christ will succumb to temptations and finally 
drift away from him. — Rev. F. J. Smith. 

HER RESOLUTION. 

Sam Jones, the well-known evangelist, once conducted what 
he termed a "quitting meeting." Those who wished were given 
the opportunity to stand up and tell of things they had been 
doing which they had determined to quit. Finally a good old 



230 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



lady arose, and in her kindly way said: "I've been doing noth- 
ing, and I'm going to quit it!" 

OBSTACLES AS STEPPING-STONES. 

A writer in the Christian Standard relates the following: 
"A young doctor by the name of Brown, with the brightest 
prospects for a successful career as a physician, was stricken 
with blindness. 'O God,' he prayed, 'I consecrate my talent of 
blindness to thee.' And he worked out the alphabet for the 
blind! How immeasurable has been his gift to afflicted man- 
kind!" 

LIFETIME OF HARVESTING. 

An Indiana man, seventy-seven years of age, commenced car- 
rying water for hands in the harvest-field when only seven years 
of age, and continued every season afterward as a worker in 
wheatfields. 

No boy or girl is too young, nor is any man or woman too 
old, to help in God's great world-wide harvest-field — first in 
sowing seeds, then "gathering in the golden grain." 

A QUESTION OF ABILITY. 

There is a plant in South America called the "pitcher-plant," 
on the stalk of which, below each leaf, is a little cuplike forma- 
tion which is always full of water, whether it be when it is very 
small or when it reaches its maturity. All that God asks is that 
the heart should be cleansed from sin, and full of love, whether 
it be the tender heart of the little child or the full-grown man. 
— Christian Advocate. 

A SEASHORE LESSON. 

I was impressed by the lesson which a father taught his 
children by the seashore. He placed a silver dollar upon the 
sand just above the water-line. In a few moments several 
incoming waves had buried it from sight. Then, before he 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 231 



allowed them to dig it out, he said: "Everything valuable that 
we allow to lie unused is soon buried by the tide of life as this 
dollar has been buried by the tide of the ocean." — Forest E. 
Dager. 

THE ANXIOUS HORSE. 

A traveler noticed that a farmer near the roadside was hav- 
ing trouble in keeping his horse going. "No, he ain't balky," 
explained the owner, "but he's so afraid I'll say 'Whoa' and he 
won't hear me, that he stops every once in awhile to listen." 

Those who work for others shouldn't waste time looking at 
the clock. Observed fear of working overtime fails to make a 
good impression on the average employer. 

KITES CARRY WIRES. 

The repair crew of a telephone line in California, which had 
been destroyed by a storm, quickly established temporary com- 
munication over a swollen river by making and flying several 
kites, to which were attached a wire. The experiment was so 
successful that the company later installed kites as a part of the 
equipment. 

A thing of sport for boys has been made a thing of service 
for others. We should consider nothing beneath us which can 
be used for a helpful purpose. 

SPIRIT AND CLOTHES MATCHED. 

Walking behind a beautifully dressed young lady, this 
thought came to a man : "I wonder if she takes half as much 
pains with her heart as she does with her clothes?" A little 
farther on he saw her spring suddenly forward to open a heavy 
gate for a poor old man with a loaded wheelbarrow, who wished 
to pass through into his yard, where there was a humble cottage. 
The girl received the thanks of the old man with a sweet smile. 
The stranger passed on, saying to himself : "She deserves the 
beautiful clothes, for she has a beautiful spirit." 



232 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



A PLACE FOR ALL. 

One of Beethoven's most famous concertos was suggested 
to him as he heard repeated knocks in the stillness of the night 
at a neighbor's door. The concerto begins with four soft taps 
of the drum — raised in this work to the rare dignity of a solo 
instrument. Again and again the four beats are heard through- 
out the music, making a wonderful effect. God uses even the 
humblest player. A man who can play only a drum can be made 
valuable in the music of the world. — Christian Register. 

STUFFED DOG ATTACKED. 

A Chicago canine, mistaking a stuffed dog for a live one, 
leaped through a taxidermist's window, and, before any one 
could interfere, tore the mounted animal to pieces. 

Foolish creature, we say; but not half so foolish as people 
who mistake the coddling of poodles for human affection, wast- 
ing time and strength in caring for them, while the same 
expenditure of money and energy would provide cheer and com- 
fort for thousands of orphan boys and girls hungering and 
thirsting for "just a little bit of love." 

"ENSLAVING TELEPHONES." 

E. H. Harriman, the well-known railroad man, had a tele- 
phone in his private car, one in his camp in the Oregon wilder- 
ness, and at home had one in his bathroom. In the mansion 
which he finally built for himself, there were a hundred tele- 
phones, and sixty of them were connected with the long-distance 
lines. A magazine writer said: "Harriman is a slave to the 
telephone," to which he replied: "Nonsense! The telephone is 
a slave to me." 

This is the right conception of things. No one should be a 
slave to money, nor to anything that money can provide. We 
should never serve them, but make them serve us in the better 
doing of life's worth-while work. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 233 



WHERE WORTH COMES IN. 

Several girls at a boarding-school were endeavoring to 
humiliate a girl from the country by boasting of things they 
could not do. She listened until they had finished, then said: 
"I would be ashamed to be as helpless as you are — to be like a 
baby and have some one wait on me. You may talk about your 
fathers being worth money, but I'm worth something in myself. 
I cook, wash, sew, scrub, bake, iron, milk, and make butter. I'm 
proud of what I can do, and would never think of boasting about 
what I can't do." — Girls' Companion. 

HOW A FAMOUS POEM WAS INSPIRED. 

A poor, childless old couple living in England, on a rocky 
farm, with their humble house almost in the road, formed the 
habit of supplying travelers with refreshing drinks from a cold 
spring in the near-by hillside, and giving fragrant apples from 
their trees. Sam Walter Foss was once thus ministered to by 
them, and it inspired him to write the beautiful poem, "The 
House by the Side of the Road." The old gentleman explained 
to him that they were too poor to give money, so took this way 
of adding their mite to the world's well-doing. 

HUMILITY WON HIS HEART. 

H. B. Gibbud relates that one day, when going from cell to 
cell in his prison work, he was called back by a man, who asked 
if he remembered him. He did not. "Well," said the man 
behind the bars, "I remember you, for you got me out of one of 
the dives in Mulberry Bend in New York City, and took me to 
the Florence Mission. I was nearly naked, shivering so with 
delirium tremens that I could not dress myself. You got some 
clothes and put them on me. One thing more — you blacked my 
boots, saying as you did so that I wanted to look nice. I did 
not want your religion then, but to think you cared enough 
about my soul to black my boots — why, I could never get away 



234 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



from that. It has followed me ever since, and now I want your 
religion." 

SMALL, BUT LARGE ENOUGH. 

A space only thirty-four inches wide and sixteen feet long 
between two buildings in New York was utilized, for a rental 
of $600 a year, by a man who established a job-printing office 
on the strip. The plant is in the path of heavy travel where 
hundreds of thousands pass to and fro, and, because of the con- 
venience of location and the good work done, it pays well. 

If you have a humble position where many come and go, it 
may be your good fortune to render them a helpful service 
denied to more pretentious persons, and in turn bring you a 
joy that any one might cherish with gratitude. 

GIVING BEES A START. 

By the use of artificial combs the bees of America have more 
than doubled the supply of honey. Because they have been 
aided to this extent they do not "loaf" a portion of the time, 
but keep busy just the same, thus enabling them to accomplish 
far more than the bees which have not this advantage. 

Many a well-to-do young person might get a helpful lesson 
from this. If you have the advantage of a good start in life, 
do not feel that you have a right to "kill time." Keep busy. Do 
something for the good of the world, that you may add much 
to the sweetness of life for others less fortunate. 

COUNTED MILLIONS CORRECTLY. 

Expert accountants found that George W. Evans, disbursing 
officer of the Department of the Interior of the United States, 
handled $385,000,000 in Government funds during a period of 
thirty-five years without the error of a single cent. 

Employes in banking and other business institutions take 
justifiable pride in having their work as near perfect as possible. 
The workmen in the greatest institution upon the face of the 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 235 



earth, the church of Christ, should be even more careful that 
their part of the work is well done; applying Jas. 1 : 25 : "Whoso 
looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, 
he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this 
man shall be blessed in his deed." 

"SHOW HIM YOUR HANDS." 

An orphan girl of the tenements, who had taken the place 
of mother for the other children, by scrubbing, washing, cook- 
ing, mending, until her slender shoulders bent and her body was 
stricken with disease, was finally told she must die. 

''I haven't been able to do anything," she said to her favorite 
girl friend from around the corner. ''I couldn't go to school or 
Sunday school because of the work and because it took all papa 
could spare to keep the others in clothes. The minister said I'd 
soon see Jesus, but I'm afraid I haven't done anything good, and 
I don't know what to say to him." 

''You needn't try," said the other encouragingly, kissing the 
pale face, "not a single word. When you see him look at you 
just show him your hands." 

LOXG-DISTAXCE PUMPING. 

Crude oil can be pumped a distance of over thirty miles 
through large pipes rifled on the inside, providing the oil is mixed 
with ten per cent, of water, says Ambition. The liquids whirl 
rapidly in passing through the pipes. The water, being heavier 
than the oil, seeks the outside and forms a thin film that lubri- 
cates the pipe for the passage of the oil, the two coming out 
entirely separate at the end of the line. 

The familiar saying, "You can't mix oil and water." is some- 
times quoted in justification for one refusing to work with 
another because of differences of conviction or opinion. Never- 
theless, there are circumstances under which persons who are 
radically different may work side by side in a good cause, with- 



236 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



out either surrendering to the other, then part and go their ways 
in peace when the work is done. 

CLOTH FROM NETTLES. 

What was for many generations regarded as a useless, annoy- 
ing weed, says the New York Sunday World Magazine, is now 
utilized extensively. A German company has a patent for mak- 
ing cloth out of nettle fiber, and an English syndicate paid 
$75,000 for the right to also manufacture the same. The nettle 
is to-day used in various other ways — food for swine and cattle, 
while poultry and horses relish the seed. Fine lace and strong 
ropes are made from the Siberian nettle. The roots, boiled in 
alum, yield a yellow dye. The juice of the stalk and leaves color 
woolen stuffs a brilliant green. 

Call no boy or girl, man or woman, depraved. Some may 
appear useless and annoying, but every natural inclination of the 
human heart may be turned to some good account. It is simply 
a matter of patiently persevering in the effort to discover the 
method by which it may be done. 

MOUNTAIN LOOKOUTS. 

The National Forest Service of the United States has estab- 
lished lookout stations on high mountain-peaks of the West, 
equipped with binocular telescopes, for the prompt discovery of 
forest fires, that, if possible, they may be checked before gain- 
ing much headway. By the aid of instruments for locating fires, 
the man in charge is enabled to telephone valuable information 
to the supervisor's office. Another part of the work of the 
service is the replanting of thousands of acres of timber which 
have been fire-swept. As it requires many years to produce 
what wildfire can destroy in a few hours or days, the work of 
conservation is considered by far the most important. 

"Sowing wild oats" is to the young man what the wildfire is 
to the forest, requiring many years to overcome the loss sus- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 237 



tained. Common-sense living is to the youth what conservation 
is to the timber industry of our country. "An ounce of preven- 
tion is worth a pound of cure." 

A PICTURE OF CHRIST. 

It is said that P. A. B. Widener, of Philadelphia, paid to 
Benjamin and Joseph Duveen nearly $700,000 for a small paint- 
ing of the infant Jesus and his mother, painted by Raphael at 
Florence in 1505, when he was only twenty-two years old. It 
is but twenty-four by seventeen inches. 

It is not the privilege of many to own high-priced pictures 
of the Saviour, or to be able to paint as did Raphael, but it is 
the wonderful privilege of every human being of the millions 
of earth, from the humblest, poorest, lowliest, to the highest and 
mightiest, to have a priceless treasure, and that is to possess 
Christ himself ; to do something far more commendable than to 
paint a picture of him on canvas, and that is to "show him forth'' 
in word and deed. 

As this picture was very small, but had great value, so may 
it be with a good deed done in His name. 

WHAT KILLED THEM? 

When the old Tabawl Inn at Southwark was torn down after 
standing for centuries, there was found in the loft a mummified 
cat and two rats. One she had in her jaws, the other was held 
down by her foot. The London Daily Express, in reporting the 
mystery, said: "How death came is not known, but it was in 
such a form that cat and rats alike were mummified. For cen- 
turies the group stood in the same position under the rafters, 
hidden from sight. The passage of time made no difference in 
their state. The cat and her victims are now in a glass case in 
the offices of Mr. W. LeMay, in Southwark." 

Whatever the cause of the mystery, the group shows that 
the cat had performed a wonderful act — and then stopped. It 



238 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



might appropriately represent persons who, having accomplished 
some commendable purpose in life, cease from further effort, 
resting upon past achievements. Don't be content to be a mum- 
mified "has been." Be a live "now is." 

POWER OF A NOBLE PURPOSE. 

One of the greatest universities in the world — Leland Stan- 
ford, Jr., University, at Palo Alto, California — was founded in 
memory of the one whose name it bears, because many times 
in the days of youth he had expressed the desire that, when he 
grew up, he might do something toward giving an education to 
boys who could not afford to go away to college. When he 
died, his grief -stricken parents, with almost boundless wealth 
at their disposal, found consolation in carrying out the noble 
desire of their son. They established the university, endowing 
it with millions of dollars, where thousands of boys have been 
given the opportunity wished for them by Leland Stanford, Jr. 

"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that 
getteth understanding, for the gaining of it is better than the 
gaining of silver, and the profit thereof than fine gold" (Prov. 
3:13, 14). 

SLUMMING PARTIES. 

It's all very well to be rich and clean and to eat wholesome 
food, then wonder what makes the poor so ignorant, but for my 
part I wish some one would endow a settlement house out on 
Riverside Drive, and put a few of the slum families up there to 
do a little missionary work in the neighborhood. Why, there's 
more charity, more kindness, sweet temper, patience and self- 
sacrifice to be found in one hour among what the idle rich call 
the slums than you could find in ten years on Fifth Avenue. 
I've seen a widow with five children living in two rooms, and 
supporting them by her own bitter, hard work, half sick, half 
starved and half lame though she was, take a woman and her 
dying husband and four little bits of hungry children into her 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 239 



own two rooms, and care for them until the man died, and the 
woman could get work for herself. Nobody in the tenement 
seemed to think the widow had done 'anything out of the ordi- 
nary, and she didn't. If she hadn't done it, some one else in the 
tenement would. — Annie Laurie. 

WHOLE CREW VOLUNTEERED. 

During the Spanish-American War of 1898, Admiral Samp- 
son desired one volunteer from each ship in his squadron to act 
under Hobson in sinking the '"Merrimac" in the narrow channel 
leading to the harbor at Santiago de Cuba. Here the Spanish 
ships had taken refuge, and he reasoned this would practically 
insure their capture by the United States forces. "Fighting Bob" 
Evans, in command of the "Iowa," says in his book, "A Sailor's 
Log," that when one volunteer from his ship was called for, 
explaining that it meant almost certain death, every officer and 
all of the six hundred seamen responded; that when one was 
finally chosen — a man named Murphy — he was offered as high 
as $150 for his chance, but promptly refused. The man who 
made the offer turned away with tears streaming down his 
cheeks because he was denied the privilege of risking his life 
for the glory of his country. 

A world-wide battle is raging between the forces of right 
and wrong. Christ, the Commander, is calling for volunteers 
for service at home and abroad. No volunteer will be denied, 
whether he can do much or little, for in this fight the weapon is 
the "sword of the Spirit," given us by our invincible Leader. 

YOUTH AND AGE. 

When can a person render humanity the best service? Gor- 
ham Esterbrook presents an argument in favor of youth, by 
citing a number of instances : Newton, formulating his law of 
attraction at twenty-two; Napoleon, made chief officer of the 
day at twenty-seven; Lafayette, declaring himself the friend of 
16 



240 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



the American colonies at nineteen; Marconi, developing wireless 
telegraphy at twenty-four; Adoniram Judson, declining a flat- 
tering call from a Boston church at twenty-two, and dedicating 
himself to missionary work in Burma; David Livingstone, at 
twenty-one, deciding to devote himself to missionary work. 
"And so the story runs." 

On the other hand, Elbert Hubbard calls attention to John 
Bigelow, at ninety-four, taking an active interest in political 
and social problems almost to the day of his death; Bowman, a 
bishop at ninety-two; John Tenniel, cartoonist at ninety, and, 
after mentioning many others active in old age, says: "Dozens 
of men can be named between eighty and ninety who are taking 
a very practical interest in the world of politics, business and 
literature." 

From all of which it seems that the normal condition is that 
of service all through life, varying according to experience and 
opportunity. Paul saw the possibilities of a young life when he 
wrote to Timothy: "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou 
an example to them that believe, in word, in manner of life, in 
love, in faith, in purity." And in Job 11 : 17 we get this beau- 
tiful picture: "Thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; 
thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning." 

HIS TICKET IN HIS HAND. 

Rev. J. Durham, of Irvington, California, familiarly known 
as Judge Durham, and one of the most beloved ministers of the 
Golden State, met death in a train wreck in June, 1914, near 
Clay, where he had been filling preaching appointments a num- 
ber of years. Only a few weeks before passing away he dedi- 
cated a new church there, which stands as a monument to his 
memory and to his faithful service. He was seventy-eight years 
of age. 

The wreck occurred soon after he had boarded the train for 
the homeward trip. He had his ticket in his hand, and as the 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 241 



conductor was approaching to take it up, the sudden crash came. 
Making his way to the good man as soon as he could, the con- 
ductor found the spirit had flown, and his hands folded across 
his breast as if in peaceful sleep. 

Yes, Judge Durham had faithfully filled the appointments of 
earth and was ready for the journey home, to the Better Land, 
holding in his hand the ticket of loving service — of a long, well- 
spent life. His services at Clay the day before seemed strangely 
prophetic of the closing of his earthly career. His morning sub- 
ject was, "The Christian's Epitaph," and in concluding his ser- 
mon he quoted from Paul's words to Timothy, "For I am already 
being offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have 
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith." In the evening he preached on "The Judgment," saying, 
as he finished : "My closing words to you are, pray without ceas- 
ing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in 
Christ Jesus concerning you." 

SIN. 

WHEN SNAKES WORK. 

"As a rule, venomous snakes sleep by day, and wander abroad 
in the shade of evening to seek food or drink," says a youth's 
paper. 

The venomous beings in human form follow practically the 
same course. The shades of night find the leaders of evil active 
in the regions where strong drink flows the most freely. 

DANGER OF FAMILIARITY. 

When you go from the fresh outdoor air into a crowded 
room you are keenly conscious of the bad, dead air there. In a 
few minutes you feel it less, and a little later do not notice it. 
The lungs become familiar with the poisoned element. So one 
becomes indifferent to sin, but none the less is hardened by it, 
and it is working death in all his members. — F. E. Tower. 



242 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



SOAP BLOCKED THE WAY. 

One man came to me and said his business was that of selling 
a kind of soap which was advertised to do remarkable work in 
taking out grease spots. "It will do all that is claimed for it," 
said he, "but the truth is, it rots the clothes. If I become a 
Christian, I must give up my business, and I can't afford to do 
it." In his case it was soap that kept him out of the kingdom of 
God. — Moody. 

THE PETRIFYING STREAM. 

Some years ago there was a stream of water in Sicily which 
came out of sulphur-beds. It would turn to sulphur any living 
creature over and around which it flowed, says the Record of 
Christian Work. At one time a fish was placed in a little rock 
basin into which the water fell. It slowly died, then gradually 
turned to stone. Sin is like that. It falls upon a man, harden- 
ing his heart, paralyzing his conscience and despiritualizing his 
soul. 

WHY THE JUDGE APOLOGIZED. 

In sentencing a man at Flint, Michigan, convicted of a 
betrayal charge, the judge said he wished to apologize to the 
murderers, safe-blowers, robbers and confidence men confined 
in prison for having to oblige them to endure the presence of 
the betrayer. 

Some crimes are so terrible, and some situations so deplor- 
able, that denunciation fails to express the contempt one feels. 
Under such circumstances a vivid contrast, as in this instance, 
is the most effective use of language possible. 

REBUKED THE BELL. 

After breaking into a small church in Scotland with the inten- 
tion of committing a theft, a man heard footsteps, and sought 
to get away by running to the end of the building and grabbing 
a suspended rope, thinking to climb up and escape. It proved 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 243 



to be the bell-rope, and his weight rang the bell. This attracted 
his pursuers, and he was caught, when he spoke thus to the bell : 
"If it had not been for thy long tongue and empty head, I 
should not have been in my present predicament." There is a 
voice in wrong-doing, and its long tongue will not keep quiet. 
All unaware, the offender pulls the bell which tells against him- 
self and summons vengeance to overtake him. — C. H. Spurgeon. 

FROM SAVAGE TRIBES. 

When the so-called "new" dances of the "turkey-trot" class 
created so much discussion in pulpit and press, calling forth con- 
demnation from many sources, the New York Sun, in the early 
part of 1913, pointed out that they were not in any sense new, 
saying : 

"These dances are a reversion to the grossest practices of 
savage man. They are based on the primitive motive of the 
orgies enjoyed by the aboriginal inhabitants of every uncivilized 
land. Their movements and steps have been described with 
exactitude by explorers and missionaries to those peoples we are 
accustomed to regard as inferior." 

WHEN MANY SUFFER. 

Judge Donahue, of the Superior Court of Alameda County, 
California, once said in a public address that he frequently 
made a personal investigation of cases coming before him. In 
one instance, where a well-appearing young man had been 
arrested for embezzlement, he found that thirty-five persons suf- 
fered because of the wrong — father, mother, brothers, sisters, 
aunts, uncles and other near relatives ; that they were grieved 
to the point of shedding tears — all because one who was dear to 
them had made one misstep. 

"My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not 
the law of thy mother," the language of Solomon, is in effect 
the wise admonition of parents to sons the whole world around. 



244 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



IT WAS SMALL ONCE. 

During a severe coughing-spell an Illinois farmer felt some- 
thing in his throat, and was startled to see a blacksnake fall from 
his mouth. For two years he had suffered much distress, and a 
number of physicians were unable to diagnose his case. The 
man concluded he must have swallowed the reptile when it was 
very small, while drinking from a brook on his farm. 

The little serpent of sin, harbored and hidden for awhile, 
may seem harmless to the one cherishing it, but, if not killed, 
it will grow, just as surely as did the little blacksnake, and with 
its growth will as certainly cause distress and the making of 
itself known in the life it has polluted. 

LIVED AS A WHITE MAN. 

After having been married twenty-six years, and posing all 
this time as a white man, a St. Louis citizen committed suicide 
when his white wife discovered he had negro blood in his veins. 
The revelation came to her when he was arrested and tried for 
fighting with another negro. 

"Be sure your sin will find you out," we read in Num. 32 : 23. 
This man's sin was not that he had negro blood, but that his 
heart was black. The color of the skin is not the test of the 
man; it's the color of the soul that tells the story. He who 
thinks he is deceiving others deceives himself far more, for some 
day his true character will be revealed. 

SNAKE BITE KILLS SCIENTIST. 

Dr. Frederick Fox, who devoted his life to the treatment of 
snake bites, met his death at Calcutta, India, as the result of 
experimenting with a snake of the deadly krait variety, which 
causes thirty-five thousand deaths each year in British India. He 
had permitted the reptile to inflict five punctures in his arm, 
and, confident of the efficacy of his cure, smilingly incised four 
of the bites the fifth escaping his notice. Soon symptoms of 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 245 



poisoning appeared, and his remedy was applied, but, in spite 
of all that could be done, he died, as had thousands of others 
into whose flesh the krait had sent its fangs. 

Do you know any one who argues in favor of the harmless- 
ness of certain things, if kept under proper restraint? Whose 
remedy for "bites" that might be inflicted is to have a "chaperon" 
or a "guardian" around? It may be possible to overcome some 
of the dangers by such precaution, but the chances are too great 
that the serpent of sin may so poison the heart that all the 
"remedies" at hand can not bring the victim back to a life of 
purity. 

FRESH WATER MADE SALT. 

Notwithstanding the Dead Sea constantly receives the fresh, 
sparkling liquid of the river Jordan, it has no outlet, sustains no 
life, and its shores are usually barren of vegetation. Fish, swim- 
ming down from the north, perish when they reach it. The 
water is six times as salty as the ocean, made so largely by the 
washing down into its bed of the brine of rains upon the great 
salt hills stretching along its southwestern shores a distance of 
seven miles. 

He who daily receives the rich blessings given to all of God's 
creatures, and yet lives near the salt hills of sin, will be so con- 
taminated by their drippings that he can not be a means of 
strength to others. The good will be overcome by the evil. 

DEEP DOWN IN THE EARTH. 

Michigan bears the distinction of having the deepest mine 
in the world — one of the copper mines near Calumet — which is 
more than a mile beneath the earth's surface and over two miles 
from the opening. The heat is so intense and the ventilation 
so poor that the miners are always glad when they start upward 
toward the pure air and sunlight. 

Aside from the mines of the world there are many places 
where a far more blighting darkness oppresses — the darkness 



246 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



of sin. Here the heat of passion and temper, and the foul air 
of profanity, vulgarity, alcohol and nicotine, hold sway. There 
is something so good in every human heart, however, that joy 
inexpressible floods the soul returning from darkness to light, 
from Satan to God, to bask in the pure air of Christ, the Sun 
of righteousness. 

FROM MOUNTAIN TO MUD BED. 

The main source of the famous Ganges River is a snow-field 
embedded between three Himalayan mountains, over twenty-two 
thousand feet high. It issues, cold and pure, from an ice cave 
thirteen thousand feet above sea-level. In the first ten miles it 
drops 350 feet, and as it rushes on it sinks lower and lower, 
finally becoming the muddy, disease-laden stream where the dead 
are burned, and where all the surroundings are in sharp con- 
trast with its clean, beautiful birthplace. 

The contrast is not more marked, however, than in the lives 
of young men who willfully go out from pure, wholesome homes 
with the expressed purpose of "having a good time," as they 
term it. This of itself is a big drop from their early teachings, 
but it's only the beginning of a downward course which, with 
many, ends in surroundings of disease, degradation and disgrace. 

SINCERITY. 

TO DETECT COUNTERFEIT. 

The president of a bank, when asked by a young clerk how 
he could distinguish the bad bills from the good, said: "Get 
familiar with the good ones and you will recognize the bad bills 
at sight." Here is a volume of wisdom summed up in a single 
sentence. The advice applies not only to the detection of coun- 
terfeit money, but with equal force to the detection of the coun- 
terfeit in all departments of life. The man accustomed to han- 
dling only good corn, wheat and potatoes has no difficulty in 
detecting the faulty. To the trained musician, accustomed to 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 247 



high-grade work, a false note comes like a stab of pain. There 
is only one way to know the bad, the imperfect, the untrue, and 
that is by knowing the good, the perfect, the true. — Harry L. 
Tyler. 

REAL ENJOYMENT. 

Long speeches at banquets are often more endured than 
enjoyed. A noted man was the guest of honor at a dinner in an 
important city. The mayor presided, and, when coffee was being 
served, he touched the distinguished guest, saying innocently: 

"Shall we let the people enjoy themselves a little longer, or 
shall we have your speech now?" 

"BENEATH A RUGGED BREAST." 

Some of the best things of life are appreciated by but few 
because so many judge by surface indications — by the outward 
appearance. Clothes do not make the man. "Many a true heart 
beats beneath a rugged breast." 

"It's a diamond in the rough, 
But it's a diamond sure enough. 
Men must find it and must grind it; 
And when it's found and when it's ground, 

Until it's burnished bright, 
It goes on everlastingly 

A-shining out its light." 

MACHINE OF MANY NOISES. 

Imitation of all sorts of noises is a part of the work of mod- 
ern theatrical companies, hence, in order to meet this require- 
ment, a machine has been invented very much resembling a piano, 
electrically operated. It is said it can produce any imaginable 
sound, such as wind, rain, thunder, fall of dead leaves, sough of 
the sea, movement of a train, hoof-beats, breakage, etc., not to 
mention in detail such simple things as bell-ringing. 

This fits in consistently with the whole stage idea, for every 
one knows it is only imitation, from first to last. The better 
and more realistic the imitation, however, the better the patrons 



248 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



are satisfied. Then, in real life, where genuineness is expected, 
the more genuinely human a person may be, in joy or sorrow, 
in adversity or prosperity, the more commendable his conduct. 
Be real. Be genuine. 

SUCCESS. 

LIST OF A THOUSAND. 

In the report of a juvenile court officer are these words: "I 
have on my desk a list of one thousand successful men. By 
'successful' I do not mean they were money-makers, but men 
who have given us new conceptions of steam, electricity, con- 
struction work, education, art, etc. Two hundred started as 
farmers' sons, two hundred as messenger boys, two hundred as 
newsboys, one hundred were printers' apprentices, one hundred 
apprenticed in manufactories, fifty began at the bottom of rail- 
way work, and fifty — only fifty — had wealthy parents to give 
them a start." 

THE MAN WHO WINS. 

The man who wins is an average man, 
Not built on any particular plan. 
He's one who never depends on kick — 
Just steady and earnest and full of pluck. 

So he works and waits, till one fine day 
There's a better job with bigger pay. 
And the men who shirked whenever they could 
Are bossed by the man whose work made good. 

— Exchange. 

BEST KIND OF A "PULL." 

"The Erie Railroad has a locomotive weighing 422^2 tons, 
including the tender. It is capable of exerting a drawbar pull 
of 160,000 pounds," we read, "a feature due mainly to the fact 
that a full set of drivers is placed under the tender, and the 
weight of the tender is thus utilized for increasing the traction 
power." 

This is the kind of "pull" young men should strive for — that 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 249 



of utilizing every pound of energy they possess for increasing 
their power — their ability to do things. This done, success is 
sure. 

VICTORY THROUGH DEFEAT. 

The teacher of a country school in New York, who had given 
good satisfaction the first term, says the Sunday School Times, 
was defeated for re-election by the influence of an enemy upon 
the directors. It was a severe blow to him. A State normal 
school in Pennsylvania, hearing he had no engagement for the 
coming year, made him a proposition which he accepted, and 
which proved a stepping-stone to a professorship in the institu- 
tion, which position he held a quarter of a century. 

The danger to most young men is not that they may be 
thwarted in their efforts by others so much as that they may 
fail to prove worthy of the success they desire. 

"SWITCH-ENGINES" OF HUMANITY. 

Charles Reynolds, dean of Yale Divinity School, speaking to 
members of the graduating class of the University of Kansas, 
indulged in the following: "Most of us are switch-engines, 
puffing within the narrow limits of the yards. It is given to few 
to pull the overland limited. For most of us, life is full of daily 
drudgery and commonplace routine." 

One is led to infer that the speaker regretted there were not 
more men of the higher sort developed in educational institutions. 
But why such regret? It should be recalled that but for the 
switch-engine the overland limited would not be "made up." 
The humble laborer fills his place with as much benefit to the 
great mass as the most polished educator or the ablest states- 
man. The street-sweeper contributes as much to the health of 
the community as its greatest physician. "Act well your part, 
for there all honor lies," is as inspired an utterance as was ever 
written for the guidance of humanity. — Oakland Tribune. 



250 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



SYMPATHY. 

WHAT HURT LINCOLN. 

The martyred war President's capacity for suffering was mar- 
velous. "I have not suffered by the South," he said; "I have 
suffered with the South." Throughout the torn nation during 
those trying days none felt the anguish of it so much as he who 
bore the burden of it all. 

TO HELP INSTEAD OF PAINT. 

Many years ago a young artist painted the picture of a for- 
lorn woman with a child, out in the storm. This picture took 
such hold on him that he laid by the brush, saying: "I must go 
out to the lost instead of painting them." He prepared for the 
ministry, and for some time worked in the city's slums. At 
length he said : "I must go to that part of the world where men 
seem most hopelessly lost." That young artist was none other 
than Bishop Tucker, of Uganda, Africa. — Record of Christian 
Work. 

THE BELL IN THE BALL. 

The London News tells of a blind man who became quite 
proficient as a cricket-player, even to the making of a catch. A 
special ball was used, with a bell inside, indicating its course to 
the highly trained ear of the sightless man. 

Persons who suffer because of some misfortune or hardship 
often hear the bell of human appeal ringing in their souls, direct- 
ing them to a course of action indicative of a sympathetic sensi- 
tiveness far superior to those who are not thus deprived. 

WHEN THE STARS SHINE. 

A father into whose family death had come was so moved by 
the kindness manifested toward him that he feelingly remarked : 

"It makes me ashamed of myself that I have so undervalued 
the goodwill of those about me, and that I have failed myself 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 251 



so often in showing sympathy and kindness to neighbors and 
friends in their times of sorrow. I have never dreamed there 
was so much love in people's hearts as has been shown us in 
our bereavement, even by mere acquaintances." 
When it is darkest the stars shine brightest. 

THAWING FROZEN GROUND. 

Mining in Alaska is hindered because of the ground freezing 
during the long, severe winters. One method of combating this 
is to drive pipes into the ground, through which steam is forced 
under strong pressure. In this way the ground is thawed so it 
can be worked, and the rich ore taken out. 

The gold in human life is often not discovered because the 
hearts of the people are so cold. They are frozen, and insen- 
sible to the needs of unfortunate ones all around them. When 
sorrow or misfortune overtakes the hitherto indifferent, and a 
feeling of fellow-sympathy is aroused, the "steam" of love thaws 
out the cold, hardened heart, and the real gold of the better 
nature yields itself to the good of humankind. 

MADE HAPPY BY PRESIDENT. 

Stricken with paralysis, his life slowly ebbing away, a twelve- 
year-old Pennsylvania boy expressed a desire to see the Presi- 
dent of the United States. This was in March. 1914. The lad's 
mother communicated with the chief executive, who gladly con- 
sented to having the youth brought to the White House. He 
was carried into the Blue Room on a stretcher, and President 
Wilson dropped all other matters for a chat of several minutes 
with him. during which he affectionately held his hand. The 
child was very happy, inquiring about Mrs. Wilson, and left 
some flowers for her. 

True greatness of character is never more surely indicated 
than in the bearing of the strong toward the weak. The Christ- 
spirit is given in the words of the Master: "Suffer little children 



252 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the king- 
dom of heaven." 

A BELL FROM THE DEEP. 

On the night of October 9, 1799, the British frigate "Lutine" 
was sunk in a terrible storm off the Dutch coast, with a cargo 
of bars of gold and silver valued at $6,000,000. In one of the 
several attempts since made to recover the treasure, the bell of 
the ship was found and brought up. It was taken to an office 
in London, where is posted the news of shipwrecks. When such 
a disaster is reported this bell from the long-lost frigate is rung. 

One may imagine that its clear tones speak tenderly, as it 
knowing from experience what it means to go down at sea, and 
to lose treasures. Ever in our times of sorrow or loss, the most 
helpful sympathy comes from those who have suffered as we. 

THE BOY WAS LONESOME. 

On a New York street-car was a little orphan boy, going 
from the home of "Aunt Bessy" to that of "Aunt Clara," in 
Brooklyn, says the Indianapolis Star. His shoes were muddy, 
and while snuggling up close to the woman to his left he unin- 
tentionally soiled the dress of the woman in gray, to his right. 
Presuming that the lad belonged to the other, she made a remark 
to that effect, kindly requesting that he keep his shoes away from 
her. When the truth was learned she felt a lump in her throat, 
and said: 

"You are a very little boy to be knocked about this way." 

"Oh, I don't mind," he said. "I never get lost; but I get 
lonesome sometimes on the long trips. This morning I was 
playing I belonged to this other lady, and was scrooging up close, 
like I was her little boy. I forgot all about my feet. That's 
how I got your dress dirty. I'm awfully sorry. I hope it will 
brush off." 

The woman put her arm around the tiny chap and "scrooged" 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 253 

i; 

him up so close that she hurt him, "and every other woman who 
heard the artless confidence glared at her green-eyed, and looked 
as if she would not only let him wipe his shoes on her very best 
dress, but would feel like spanking him if he didn't." 

FOR HIS MOTHER'S SAKE. 

The Christian Leader tells of the son of a florist who had 
saved a beautiful, half-opened rose to place on his mother's 
grave, and who soon after saw a ragged little fellow near by 
pick up a withered rose, whose leaves fell to the ground with 
the slightest movement. The lad's lips quivered as the florist's 
boy stepped up and asked what he wanted to do with the flower. 

"Mother's sick, and can't eat nothin', and I thought maybe 
a flower to smell might make her feel better," was the reply. 

"Just you wait a minute," said the other, and he brought out 
his own beautiful rose which he had intended for his mother's 
grave. 

As the ragged urchin sped happily away, the other turned 
back to his work as he said to himself : 

"Mother will understand, and I know this will please her 
better." 

THE PRESIDENT WAITED. 

In May, 1863, while the beloved Lincoln was visiting a camp 
hospital, he stopped at the bedside of a sixteen-year-old Ver- 
mont boy who was fatally wounded, says Mrs. Pickett in the 
Christian Herald, when the youth asked if he would write a 
letter for him to his mother. "That I will," was the prompt 
response. As the boy dictated, the President proceeded. It was 
a long letter, but he manifested no weariness. When it was 
finished and the great man arose to go, the boy looked up to 
him pleadingly, as he asked: "Won't you stay with me? I do 
want to hold your hand." Mr. Lincoln quickly perceived the 
lad's meaning, sat down by his side and gently clasped his thin 
hand. For two hours he sat there patiently, as though he had 



254 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



been the boy's father. When the end came, he bent over and 
tenderly folded this one with the other on the young soldier's 
breast, and left the hospital in tears. 

TACT. 

TO MAKE LIGHTING EASIER. 

In order to minimize the terrific jar with which an aeroplane 
sometimes strikes the ground, a shock-absorber has been 
invented. 

Here is another kind of shock-absorber: "A soft answer 
turneth away wrath." 

WELL SUPPLIED. 

An impecunious lover accompanied his fiancee to a bazar, and 
when they came to a booth where a lot of charms were on sale, 
she exclaimed with delight: 

"Oh, Charles, buy me a charm!" 

"Mabel," he answered admiringly, "you have too many 
already." 

THE RIGHT BAIT. 

Christ said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." 
Now, remember that anybody who catches fish must cut the bait 
the fish like, not what they like. The most of us have been fish- 
ing with the bait we like best. It won't do. If the fish won't 
bite at what we have, we must get something that they will bite. 
— Francis Murphy. 

VENTILATING TUNNELS. 

The old way of ventilating underground railways in cities 
was to draw out the foul air with exhaust fans. The new and 
better way is to pump in fresh air, thus forcing the foul out. 

The person who says to those engaged in wrong-doing, "Don't 
do this, that and the other," is using the old method of driving 
the foul things out of wicked lives. The one who induces them 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 255 



to take up duties which engage their time and attention along 
pure lines, is using the new and better method. 

TELLING MOTHER. 

Break bad news gently. The Chicago Record-Herald tells of 
a boy who went home one day so dirty and bruised that his 
mother hardly knew him, and explained that his predicament was 
due to his efforts to "keep a little boy from getting licked." 

"Well, that was fine," said the mollified parent. "I'm proud 
of you, Harold. And who was that little boy?" 

"Me," was the reply, with a sad smile. 

WHAT A MATCH WILL DO. 

After kicking, cuffing and beating had failed to loosen the 
hold of a bulldog on a boy's pet dog, a man stepped up and held 
a lighted match to the nose of the ferocious animal, thus causing 
it to let go and turn away sneezing, saving the life of the other. 
A pinch of snuff, of course, would have had the same effect. 

There is much in knowing the right thing to do at the right 
time. Frequently a mild act, small in itself, will succeed where 
more strenuous efforts fail. 

A TIME FOR ALL THINGS. 

The Strand Magazine once published some reminiscences of 
a court photographer, who said that royalty almost invariably 
demands that pictures for the public must show the noted ones 
either serious, stern, forbidding or commanding, on the theory 
that the impressions from such tend to beget a respect for those 
in authority which would be lacking in pictures showing a lighter 
vein. 

The supposed advantages of dignity are recognized by others 
than royal personages. It is well known that beggars are adepts 
at posings while soliciting alms. A man wearing a sign, "Blind 
and Deaf," was being led about by a happy-hearted youth, who 
broke forth joyously whistling a popular song which was being 
17 



256 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



ground out by an organ-player in the same block, when the man 
reprimanded him severely for such levity, sternly asking: "Do 
you want people to think we're happy?" 

Eccl. 3:1: "For everything there is a season, and a time for 
every purpose under heaven." 

BY ANOTHER'S WATCH. 

Dr. Henry Van Dyke some years ago appeared before the 
Congressional Committee on Patents in Washington, when a 
long list of speakers were waiting. Thomas Nelson Page, who 
had been granted ten minutes, talked half an hour. It was then 
Dr. Van Dyke's turn. 

"How much time do you need, Doctor?" inquired the chair- 
man. 

"Ten minutes — by Mr. Page's watch," was the ready reply, 
and amid the merriment that followed he was invited to talk as 
long as he desired. — Lippincotfs Magazine. 

QUICK WIT OF A CHILD. 

The King of Prussia was once addressing some schoolchil- 
dren, when he held up an orange and asked : "To what kingdom 
does this belong?" Receiving the correct answer, he -held up a 
coin with the same question, which was also answered correctly. 
"To what kingdom do I belong, then?" he queried of one of the 
girls. The child blushed. She did not like to say, "The animal 
kingdom," lest the royal visitor might be offended. There flashed 
to her mind the thought, "God made man in his own image," 
and, looking up brightly, she said : "To the kingdom of God." — 
E. W. Thornton. 

SMOOTH TOPS FOR HAT-HOOKS. 

In a large establishment in Chicago complaints were made 
that the ordinary wire hat-racks in use broke and cut the hats 
placed on them. To remedy this the manager bought a thousand 
tops, such as are sold to schoolboys for a penny each, and placed 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 257 



them on the ends of the wire holders. The smooth, rounded 
surface prevented further damage to headgear. 

There are sharp, cutting incidents coming up nearly every 
day in our experiences, which may be made harmless by kindly 
tact, leaving no regrets to mar the happiness of those concerned. 
"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a network of 

silver." 

WHY HE HURRIED. 

This is such a hurry age that perhaps the policeman in the 
following story, from "Hapgood's Opportunities," was justified 
in his conclusion : 

A man with long, bushy hair was approached on the street 
by a boy who asked him the time. "Ten minutes to nine," he 
replied, looking at his watch with an important air. "Well, at 
nine o'clock get your hair cut," said the boy, taking to his heels, 
the man chasing him, nearly knocking down a policeman as he 
turned the next corner. 

"What's up?" asked the officer, halting him. The man, much 
out of breath, replied excitedly: 

"See that urchin running? Well, he asked me the time, and 
when I told him it was ten minutes to nine, he said to get my 
hair cut at nine o'clock ! Whew !" 

"Well," returned the policeman, soothingly, "you needn't be 
in such a hurry. You have eight minutes yet." 

SCIENTIFIC BURGLARY. 

A gang of thieves, who blew open the safe of a post-office 
in a Pennsylvania town, timed their blasts to the explosion of 
a dynamite charge in a stone quarry near by. The postmaster 
heard it, but did not discover the robbery until the next morn- 
ing, as he, in common with others, supposed the noise was caused 
by the quarry blast. 

Satan is very tactful. His agents often time their "blasts" 
for the injury of others in such a manner as to ward off the 



258 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



suspicion of their actions. By making it appear that some one 
else is to blame, they rejoice not a little in their scientific han- 
dling of "tongue dynamite." 

TALENTS. 

MAKING HAIR-SPRINGS. 

It is said the manufacturer who can take a piece of iron and 
transform it into a giant boiler could also make it into hair- 
springs worth thirteen times their weight in gold. 

You may feel you haven't many talents, but if you use them 
to the best of your ability you may increase your influence a 
hundred-fold. As the tiny hair-spring is necessary before the 
watch can keep time, so you may find scores of persons simply 
waiting for the little hair-spring of encouragement you can give. 

WONDERFUL VIOLIN. 

The famous violin, "Emperor Stradivarius," which is two 
hundred years old, and once belonged to the collection of the 
late George Haddock, is valued at $50,000. And yet it contains 
but fifteen ounces of wood and varnish. 

As fifteen ounces of wood may make a violin worth $50,000, 
or a few boxes of toothpicks worth less than a dollar, so may 
the talents God has given you be either wasted or made of price- 
less value in helping the world along. 

NOVEL INSURANCE. 

Noted dancers insure their feet, pianists their fingers and 
singers their voices. "Paderewski's fingers are reported to be 
insured for close upon $100,000, payable in the event of total 
incapacity," says a London paper. "When an injury to the first 
finger of his right hand prevented his playing in Philadelphia, 
he received $5,000 under the terms of his policy. Caruso's voice 
is insured for $150,000, and Mile. Friel, a French actress, has 
insured her eyes for $25,000." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 259 



If the eyes, the feet, the hands and the voice are of great 
value to some in money-making, every one blessed with such 
possessions should value them above price because of their joy- 
producing powers — the eyes to see human needs ; the feet to go 
on errands of love and mercy; the hands to carry and lift up, 
and the voice to cheer the songless on every hand. 

TEMPERANCE. 

BEER AND SUICIDES. 

Milwaukee is known as the "beer city." According to the 
papers, there are more suicides in that city, in proportion to pop- 
ulation, than any other in America. Is this simply a coincidence, 
or is there a relation between beer and despair? 

THE KEY TO THE CEMETERY. 

In a certain town is a cemetery close beside which stands 
a saloon. The gate was kept locked, but a sign on the corner 
of the saloon read: "The key to the cemetery within." There 
is more truth in that sign than one would realize upon first read- 
ing it. — W. G. Partridge. 

WHAT A JUG DID. 

"Why is my house so shabby and old, 
At every crevice letting in cold? 
Why are my eyes so swollen and red? 
Whence is this dreadful pain in my head? 
Why is my wife broken-hearted and sad? 
Why is it my children never are glad?" 
Go, ask your jug! 

— Ram's Horn. 

WHERE DRINKERS FAILED. 

In the sixty-two-mile walking-match at Kiel, Germany, in 
1908, total abstainers won the first, second, third, fourth, eighth 
and ninth places. Moderate drinkers won the others up to the 
tenth. Of all who entered, 29 per cent, were total abstainers, 
and they furnished 60 per cent, of the ten prize-winners. 



260 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



STRENGTH IN CLEAN LIVING. 

Walter Johnson pitched fifty-six consecutive innings without 
giving the opposing teams a single run, and has won sixteen 
consecutive games. Clark Griffith, manager of the Washington 
baseball team, says that this famous pitcher neither drinks, 
smokes, chews nor swears. He lives a clean, thoroughly con- 
trolled life in order to pitch a clean, thoroughly controlled ball. 
— E. W. Thornton, in The Lookout, 1914. 

THE SERPENT'S MISTAKE. 

A Kentucky farmer found a door-knob in the stomach of a 
snake he had killed. It is supposed the reptile thought it was 
swallowing an egg. 

The man who puts liquor into his stomach, thinking he is 
taking into his system something helpful, makes a worse mistake 
than did the snake. So far as known, door-knobs would never 
rob a man of reason, nor cause him to strike wife or children. 

IMPARTIAL TESTIMONY. 

Insurance men make accurate calculations about what they 
call "life chances." These are based on reliable statistics. They 
say that if a young man at twenty is and remains a total ab- 
stainer, he has prospect of life thirteen years more than the 
young man of the same age who drinks moderately. It would 
be a great pity to barter thirteen years of life for such a pit- 
tance as an occasional drink. Over the young man who drinks 
heavily, the total abstainer's advantage is twenty-nine years. — 
Helen A. Hawley. 

ORDAINING A SALOON-KEEPER. 

When the fee is paid and the man receives his license, he is 
practically ordained as follows : 

"Take thou authority to tempt men; to rob them of their 
money and reason; to stain our streets with blood; to fill our 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 261 



jails and increase our taxes; to destroy our sons and defy the 
commands of Heaven. And when you are called to account in 
the day of judgment, present this license, and say that we, the 
authorities, who have been elected by Christian people, author- 
ized you to sell rum/' — The Palm-tree. 

FILIPINO BOLO MERCHANTS. 

In a city in the Philippines are three men who do a thriving 
business, carrying nothing in stock but deadly weapons, the 
"bolo" knife being the one upon which they rely most for their 
trade. 

Tens of thousands of men have done a thriving business in 
the United States, not by dealing out long, sharp knives, but by 
pouring out bright, sparkling liquors, annually slaying over one 
hundred thousand husbands, sons and brothers — more, perhaps, 
than have been killed in a whole century by the Filipinos with 
their bolos. 

A TRAGEDY. 

Into a window a moth quickly flew, 

By a flickering light decoyed. 
Never again could it fly as before — 

It lived, but its wings were destroyed. 

The wine-cup so bright is a trap of the worst, 

So keep far away, my dear boy; 
Or else, like the moth, you'll be sorry too late — 

It fascinates but to destroy. 

— A. H. Hutchinson. 

BOOTBLACK'S STRANGE CUSTOMER. 

In London a boy was engaged to call at a certain tailor-shop 
once a week to shine the shoes of the "dummy" upon which the 
proprietor exhibited his latest fashion creations. During the 
process it was necessary for a clerk to hold the dummy in order 
to keep it in an upright position. 

This seems odd, but not half so much so as that men with 
ability to think and reason often need holding while receiving a 
shine, or being led home under the influence of liquor. A man 



262 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



in such a condition suffers by comparison with a neatly attired 
dummy. 

FROM BREWERY TO SLAUGHTER-HOUSE. 

When State-wide prohibition was carried in one of the 
Southern commonwealths, a brewing company, which had been 
in business fifty years, made alterations in its $1,000,000 plant, 
changing it to a slaughter-house for the purpose of going into 
the packing business. 

Like all establishments of its kind, it had been engaged in 
another kind of slaughter business before making the change — 
the slaughter of manhood and womanhood; the killing of noble 
purposes in many a breast ; the slaying of women and children at 
the hands of men who had promised to protect them; the 
destruction of happiness in tens of thousands of homes. 

THEY MEANT WELL. 

While starting a gasoline-light plant in a store at Dilworth, 
Minnesota, a man's clothing caught fire, and some friends, mis- 
taking wood alcohol for water, dashed it on him. Of course 
they meant well, but their action only increased his danger, and 
he ran into the street, ablaze from head to foot. His life was 
finally saved by several men rolling him in a snowbank. 

Well-meaning doctors, prescribing liquor for patients who 
are fighting to conquer the drink habit, are throwing alcohol on 
the fires of appetite, which can be quenched only by a roll in 
the snowbank of absolute and unconditional total abstinence. 

DIABOLICAL SUGGESTION. 

The following is an extract from the speech of one of the 
officers of the Ohio State Liquor League: 

"It will appear from these facts, gentlemen, that the success 
of our business is dependent largely upon the creation of appe- 
tites. The open field is among the boys. After men are grown 
and their habits formed, they rarely change in this regard. It 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 263 



will be needful, therefore, that missionary work be done among 
the boys, and I make the suggestion, gentlemen, that nickels ex- 
pended in treats to the boys now will return in dollars to your 
tills after the appetites have been formed. Above all things, 
create appetites." 

BOTH DANGEROUS. 

In one of our large cities a strike was on, and the peace of 
the city was threatened. The mayor, who was not a temperance 
advocate, gave strict orders to the police that they should guard 
the armory — and the saloons. Why these, rather than the shoe- 
stores and restaurants? Well, the armory was stacked with 
firearms and ammunition. Fancy for a moment what would 
happen if the men whose passions were already inflamed should 
come in contact with the contents of the armory! The mayor 
and the whole city officiary that supported him had tacitly ac- 
knowledged that the same thing was to be feared if the mob 
came in contact with the things kept in the saloon. — Mattie M. 
Boteler. 

STRONG MEN OF CHILDISH FEARS. 

A number of the great men of history had peculiar fears. 
Tit-Bits says that Julius Caesar was afraid of thunder — and yet 
the sounds and sights of the most bloody battlefields had no 
terrors for him. Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, was 
loath to look at rivers, and, if compelled to cross a bridge, sat 
in a closed carriage, bathed in perspiration. Lord Roberts was 
afraid of cats, and could not rest nor enjoy food in a house 
where a feline was permitted. Henry III. of France so dis- 
liked cats that he was known to faint at sight of one. Two 
other great generals, Marshal Saxe and the Duke of Schomberg, 
also held them in terror — and yet these men were brave where 
gleamed the sword in battle array. 

Foolish and trivial as these fears appear, they are on a level 
with the fear of robust men who haven't the courage to say 



264 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



"No" when a fair maiden offers them wine, or to turn the glass 
down at a social function where others are partaking of the 
sparkling liquid. 

HIS MOTHER'S INFLUENCE. 

Jack went with his father to a great banquet of business 
men, in a strange city, because it would not do to leave him at 
the hotel alone. When all were seated the waiters came with 
the wines to fill the glasses. The boy was dismayed. His father 
was busy talking with the man on the other side. Remembering 
the teachings of his mother as to the ruin liquor brings upon 
those who use it, he hastily turned down his glass and also his 
father's, remarking to the waiter in a clear voice that reached 
every ear near him, ''Father and I don't drink." A smile of 
approval went around, and every man at that end of the table 
turned down his glass, because little Jack had the courage of his 
convictions. — Exchange. 

THOUGHT OF HIS OWN BABY. 

A drummer, riding in a smoking-car where several of his 
companions were passing a bottle, declined, much to their sur- 
prise, relates the Ram's Horn. "I've quit drinking, boys," he 
said. "I'll tell you how it was. Yesterday I was in Chicago, 
calling on a customer who keeps a pawnshop in connection with 
his other business. While there, a young man not more than 
twenty-five came in with a package in his hand. He unwrapped 
a pair of little baby shoes and offered them for ten cents, say- 
ing, 1 want a drink.' When urged to take them back home to 
his baby, the pawnbroker remarking that she would surely need 
them, the poor young fellow bowed his head on the showcase 
and cried like a child, as he sobbed out the story: 'No, she 
won't; she died last night.' You may laugh if you please, men; 
but I have a baby at home, and I swear I'll never drink another 
drop." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 265 



JACK LONDON'S OPINION. 

In former years many persons professed to believe that intox- 
icating liquors could be used to advantage, particularly in stim- 
ulating persons for some extra effort or special mental work. 
Socn after the appearance of Jack London's book, "John Barley- 
corn." in which he takes the stand that liquor is not helpful in 
any way, Dr. Purdue, State geologist of Tennessee, wrote to 
Mr. London, asking him if it was not true that he had used 
liquor as a stimulant to advantage in his literary work. To this 
Jack London replied : 

"No; please believe me, whatever I have accomplished in this 
world has been in spite of it. John Barleycorn has never helped 
me to do anything. This is straight and flat and right out from 
the shoulder.*' 

CHECKING SHIFTING SAND-DUNES. 

For many years great stretches of the New England coast 
were encroached upon by the slow-shifting sand-dunes, smother- 
ing large quantities of vegetation. As far back as 1895 a 
systematic right was begun by planting large numbers of shrubs 
and grasses that would grow in the sand and hold it in check. 
Instead of a wide expanse of waste lands are now slopes of 
almost solid green, where the plucky bayberry, the mountain 
cranberry and the beach grasses grow — a scene of beauty in 
place of the desert hue of other days. 

During many decades the blight of the liquor business swept 
over all portions of the United States, impoverishing commu- 
nities, making criminals, blighting child growth and development, 
and smothering happiness in the home. Finally the noble 
women of the W. C. T. U. banded together to check the devas- 
tation by securing scientific temperance instruction in the 
public schools. The good seed took root, and the sand-dunes 
of waste, poverty and sorrow are giving way to the green slopes 
of industry* plenty and happiness. 



266 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



FIRE IN A TUNNEL. 

Because a tramp cooked a meal over a fire too near one of 
the entrances, close to a lot of dry grass, one of the long railroad 
tunnels in the West was closed to traffic fifty-one days, and 
damage amounting to nearly $100,000 was done. Every known 
means of fighting the fire was tried, but without avail, owing to 
the headway gained in destroying the timbers supporting the 
roof, so it was decided to let it burn itself out. 

Every year a hundred thousand or more citizens of the 
United States give up trying to quench the fires of appetite for 
intoxicating liquors — in many instances after every known rem- 
edy has been tried — which finally burn themselves out, leaving 
a half-million families to mourn over the havoc thus wrought. 

NO PLACE FOR DRINKERS. 

Mr. Bostock, the famous trainer of lions and other beasts, 
says that whoever goes into the business of taming animals must 
neither smoke nor drink, because one of the necessary qualifi- 
cations for success is absolute steadiness of nerve. The quiver- 
ing of an eyelid, the least evidence of being startled, means 
danger or death. No man addicted to alcohol or tobacco can 
be sure of his nerves under such circumstances. 

Very few people intend to make the training of animals their 
work in life, but many thousands hope to be trainers of men — 
superintendent, foreman or boss — and to them steadiness of 
nerve and complete self-control are just as necessary as they 
are to a trainer in a cage of lions. — /. Mervin Hull. 

BENEFITS NONE. 

A temperance lecturer, going about the country, it is said, 
was in the habit of taking out and holding his gold watch in 
his hand, offering it to any one in the audience who would stand 
up and name one class of people who had ever been benefited 
by the saloon. One day in Iowa a gentleman got up and with 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 267 



confidence named the undertakers. The 1 speaker was about to 
unchain his watch and hand it over, when an old man arose 
and said: 

"Hold on ! Before you give away that watch allow me to 
say that I have been the undertaker in this community for thirty- 
five years, and have buried a great many of that kind of people ; 
but whenever I am called on to lay away a drunkard, or any 
member of his family, I always know it's a charity job. I 
would be $35,000 better off to-day if I had never been asked to 
bury one such case." 

HOW THE LAWYER WAS CURED. 

Having been a moderate drinker for a number of years, 
patronizing a certain saloon-keeper, an Indiana lawyer was 
filled with rage when he learned that the man had employed 
another attorney to draw up an abstract and deed for him in the 
purchase of a piece of property. He went to the saloon pro- 
prietor and, leaning over the bar, demanded an explanation, say- 
ing : "I've bought my drinks here for years and have spent hun- 
dreds of dollars in your place. Then, the very minute you have 
legal work to be done you go and employ some one else." 

Without the slightest hesitation the liquor-dealer replied: 

"When I have business for a lawyer I want it done by a 
sober one — see?" 

The offended man turned and walked away. The answer to 
his question startled him. His friends say he at once became a 
total abstainer and remained so for life. 

CLEAN LIVING AND QUICK THINKING. 

Connie Mack, manager of the famous Athletics baseball 
team of Philadelphia, in a published interview in 1914, laid great 
stress on "clean living and quick thinking," as important factors 
in the make-up of a successful player; "and without the one 
you can't have the other — the quick thinking," he says. He de- 



268 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



mands men of pluck, daring, endurance, self-command and quick 
judgment. "All of the umpires together haven't put as many 
ball-players out of the game as Old Man Booze," he declares. 
"If you estimate a player's years at fifteen, why, moderate drink- 
ing will cut off from three to five years. . . . Five years ago I 
would take a man who drank, provided I thought I could handle 
him, and gradually break him of the habit. Now I wouldn't 
bother with a youngster who drinks. That's my fixed policy." 
It was said that not a man on his team that year had ever 
known the taste of liquor. 

IN TWO HOMES. 

He swung on the gate and looked down the street, 
Awaiting the sound of familiar feet, 
Then suddenly came to the sweet child's eyes 
The marvelous glory of morning skies, 
For a manly form with a steady stride 
Drew near to the gate that opened wide, 
As the boy sprang forward and joyously cried, 
"Papa's coming!" 

The wasted face of a little child 

Looked out of the window with eyes made wild 

By the ghostly shades in failing light, 

And the glimpse of a drunken man in the night, 

Cursing and reeling from side to side; 

The poor boy, trembling and trying to hide, 

Clung to his mother's skirts and cried, 

"Papa's coming!" — Selected. 

TEMPTATION. 

TO AVOID RAILROAD WRECKS. 

Among the odd inventions seen in the Patent Office at Wash- 
ington, D. C, is one in the shape of a collision-proof train. It 
carries trucks in front and behind, with rails running over the 
roofs of the cars, so that one train, overtaking or meeting an- 
other, would run over the top, instead of colliding with it. 

If you can't avoid evil, don't let it crush or hinder you. Pass 
over it and go on your way. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 269 



WHOM SATAN SEEKS. 

In a class meeting a colored man once said : "Brethren, when 
I was a boy I took a hatchet and went into the woods. When 
I found a tree dat was straight and solid I didn't touch it; but 
when I found one leaning a little and hollow on the inside, I # 
soon had him down. So when the debbil goes after Christians, 
he don't touch dem dat stand straight and true, but jest dem 
dat lean a little and is hollow inside." — Boys' Teacher. 

SUCTION BETWEEN SHIPS. 

An authority, writing of the remarkable suction power be- 
tween ships going in opposite directions, says : ''There is usually 
less danger when they are both traveling at high speed."' 

One man, who had signed a total-abstinence pledge, made it 
a rule to walk rapidly when passing a saloon, not daring to 
trust himself to even look toward the place. Another found 
that when he walked on the side of the street where he was 
compelled to pass a saloon his feet seemed almost to turn 
tcward it so he formed the habit of always going on the other 
side. 

The safest thing for any one compelled to pass near places 
of temptation is to "travel at a high speed." In this way, the 
suction — the power of the temptation — will be more easily 
overcome. 

KILLED WHILE PLAYING. 

The five-year-old son of a West Virginia miner found a 
dynamite cap while playing, and bit it, causing it to explode, 
blowing the child's head to pieces. 

The play of life is full of danger. Dynamite caps of selfish- 
ness, passion and unworthy ambition beset us on every hand. 
When the subject of amusements is discussed, we often hear the 
question: "Is there any harm in it?" Be careful at this point. 
"Be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to 



270 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both 
soul and body in hell." 

WHEN TEMPTATION IS DANGEROUS. 

A lad of seventeen had been sent to a saloon to take the 
measures for a new counter. It was a cold day, and the saloon- 
keeper mixed a hot drink, offering it to him. He declined. "It 
must have been a big temptation," said a friend to whom he 
related the incident. "Well," replied the lad, frankly, "you see 
it takes two to make a temptation. There's no saloon-keeper and 
no cold weather can make me take a drink when I don't want 
to. The temptation I'm afraid of is the one that I'm ready for 
before it comes, by hankering after it." — Mrs. George H. Miller. 

DECEIVING DUCKS. 

When a Chinese fowler wants to catch ducks he lets float out 
two or three large hollow gourds. The ducks are at first afraid, 
but soon lose their timidity. Then the fowler wades out among 
them, having over his head a gourd with holes through which 
to see and breathe, and thus approaches a duck, draws it under 
the water and fastens it to his girdle, and so on, until his girdle 
is full. Many to-day are decoyed by the selfish fascinations of 
evil company, questionable amusements and the wine-cup, and 
fastened to the girdle of the enemy. — Louis Albert Banks. 

THE LURE OF THE LIGHTS. 

In some of the vine and fruit growing districts of France and 
Germany, insect pests often menace the harvest. To prevent 
this, acetylene lamps, properly placed and lighted, attract the 
insects by thousands. As they fly into the bare flame their wings 
are singed and they fall into circular troughs, filled with water 
and covered with a film of petroleum, which kills them. 

The bright lights of evil resorts have attracted untold 
thousands of young men to the haunts of vice, thus leading to 
their downfall, and often to death. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 271 



MINNOW FOR BAIT ALL DAY. 

Among patents of interest to fishermen is a novel device for 
using a single live minnow for bait all day. It is magnified by 
being placed in a strong, clear glass tube containing water, and 
to which are attached clusters of hooks and a loop wire. The 
tube becomes invisible when submerged, and because of this 
bass and other fish are easily caught. 

Satan follows the same tactics. His bait of promised pleas- 
ures, used over and over again, is magnified by beautiful sur- 
roundings, thus often deceiving unsuspecting young people. His 
hooks are not conspicuous, but they are there, just the same. 

THOROUGHNESS. 

WHY HE SUCCEEDED. 

Returning to the place of her childhood, a lady passed a fine 
old house, and, observing the name upon the door, inquired, 
"Who is Dr. Walker?" She was told that as a boy he lived in 
a little house near her father's farm, then she readily recalled 
him; remembered that he picked berries for them and did other 
work. "Yes," she commented thoughtfully, "father said the 
berries he picked never had to be gone over a second time; that 
he did his work well and never wasted a moment." 

MUST FOLLOW THE LINE. 

One of the most important parts of a phonograph is the 
smallest — the needle. It must travel three miles in playing a 
single tune, and must follow the line from start to finish without 
the slightest deviation, else the harmony of the music will be 
lost. What many consider the smallest part of life is the most 
important — a conscientious effort to faithfully follow every line 
of duty, regardless of how small it may be. This will make the 
sum total a life of beautiful harmony— a successful life in the 
very best sense. 
18 



272 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



AFTER THIRTY YEARS' EFFORT. 

Edwin Booth, the celebrated tragedian, was once asked to 
read the Lord's Prayer to an assembled company. As he arose, 
his eyes, turned upward, were wet with tears, and, as he pro- 
ceeded, his pathos and fervid solemnity thrilled all hearts. At 
the close an aged man, with broken accent, said : "I have repeated 
the prayer from my boyhood, but I never knew it before — never." 
Said Booth: "To read that prayer as it should be read has cost 
me severest study and labor for thirty years, and I am far from 
being satisfied now." — Biblical Illustrator. 

THE BACHELOR'S ADVICE. 

There are so many persons who are afraid of doing too 
much that it is a relief to find one who always wishes to give 
good measure, to do more than would be expected rather than 
less. Such a young man was Harry Winstead. During his 
courtship a question of etiquette came up, so he went for advice 
to Tom Bradbury, a bachelor friend, presenting the question 
thus : 

"You know, Tom, I'm keeping company with that charming 
Miss Ellsworth. When I escort her to the opera on a two-dollar 
ticket, after the opera to a fine restaurant for dinner, and then 
take her home in a taxicab, should I kiss her good-by at the 
gate?" 

"I don't think she ought to expect it. I think you've done 
enough for her," was the bachelor's cold-hearted reply. 

BUILT CENTURIES AGO. 

The famous Appian Way, one of the roads leading to Rome, 
was constructed by Appius Claudius about 312 B. C, and is still 
in splendid condition. It is said that neither expense nor labor 
was taken into consideration in making this marvelous roadway. 

The statue of King Da-uda, who reigned about 4500 B. C, 
is now in the museum at Constantinople. It was discovered by 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 273 



Dr. Edward J. Banks, an American archeologist, among the 
ruins of the buried city of Adab, in Babylonia, and is supposed 
to be the oldest statue in the world. 

"What is worth doing at all is worth doing well." Your best 
effort is none too good if you wish your work to stand the test 
of the ages. 

ADVANTAGES IN BOTH. 

"There are two sides to every question," we often hear. 
"Learn all you can about a subject that interests you," is good 
advice. It is said that a Mississippi Senator, conversing with a 
colored man, asked what breed of chickens he considered best. 
The reply both surprised and amused him : 

"All kinds has merits. De white ones is de easiest to find; 
but de black ones is de easiest to hide aftah yo' gits 'em." 

The Louisville Courier- Journal tells the following story: 

"Every time I see grandfather's sword I want to go to war." 

"Well?" 

"But every time I notice grandfather's wooden leg I cool 
down." 

THE LETTER YOU WRITE. 

A business man, who had "made good," addressed a business 
class of a Young Men's Christian Association, and told of a 
country boy who wanted to go to a large city to make his for- 
tune. He found an advertisement that appealed to him, and 
answered it. He wrote and tore up many letters, and sat up 
all night before producing the one he finally sent. Within a 
few days he received an invitation from the advertiser to come 
to New York for a personal interview, which he accepted. The 
first question asked him was, "Did you write this letter ?" as it 
was pushed toward him. Replying modestly in the affirmative, 
the man said to him : "The position is yours." 

The boy's letter, well worded, showing carefulness, neatness, 
intelligence, was the best recommendation he could have pro- 



274 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



duced. Had he written hurriedly, carelessly, he would probably 
never have received a reply. He was the same young man who 
afterwards became the successful man who related the incident. 

HIS TURN. 

Asking questions may be due either to curiosity or a desire 
to be thorough when investigating a subject under discussion. 
Everybody's Magazine tells of a club of eccentric young men 
which had for one of its rules that on Tuesday evenings any 
member who asked a question he could not himself answer must 
pay a fine of $10. 

"Why doesn't a ground-squirrel leave any dirt around the 
top of his hole when he digs it?" asked McLoughlin. 

The others gave it up, and the question was put back to 
him. 

"That's easy," said he ; "the squirrel starts at the bottom and 
digs up." 

"But," promptly quizzed a member, "how does he get to the 
bottom ?" 

"That's your question," answered McLoughlin, with a mis- 
chievous smile. 

TOBACCO. 

ONLY SANE MEN WANTED. 

Mr. Harriman, the well-known railroad man, once said: 
"Cigarette-users are unsafe as railroad men. I would just 

as soon think of getting my employes out of an insane asylum 

as to employ cigarette-users." 

A DEADLY POISON. 

"Nicotine obtained from tobacco is one of the most powerful 
and rapidly acting poisons known to science," says Dr. F. C. 
Walsh. "It is because of this that tobacco and the drugs derived 
from it have been officially dropped from medical practice. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 275 



Tobacco applied as a poultice to a raw surface has caused death 
to a human being within three hours. A sailor boy. caught 
chewing tobacco, and fearing chastisement, swallowed it. He 
died half an hour afterward from paralysis of the respiratory 
organs. One-fifteenth of a grain of nicotine has caused death 
to a human being, and in one well-known case one drop killed a 
cat in seventy-eight seconds.'"' 

RELIABLE TESTIMONY. 

One peculiarity of things that are injurious, or evil in their 
effects, is that those who profit by them frequently give the 
strongest possible testimony against them, in their efforts to show 
the superiority of their article over that of competitors. Here 
is such an instance — an extract from the advertisement of a 
tobacco company : 

"Do you like a cigar that tastes like a dried cornstalk? Do 
you enjoy having a cankered tongue and a tender throat? You 
are smoking cigars, aren't you? Your throat tickles, your head 
is swimmy in the morning, you have to steady your hand to 
write a check, your stenographer hates you, and your wife 
breathes a sigh of relief whenever you leave the house." 

Bear in mind that this is not from the tract of a temperance 
society, but from a dealer in tobacco, who, of course, knows 
what he is talking about. 

UNION. 

HELD UP A TRAIX. 

The power of united effort of feeble forces is seen in a story 
from South Africa. In December, 1912. a swarm of bees took 
possession of a railway station, and not only drove off the 
passengers waiting there, but the officials as well. They held 
the station until they took their departure in the evening, check- 
ing the transaction of business and the moving of all trains. "In 
union there is strength." 



276 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



LOOKED TO OTHERS. 

Noland R. Best, as quoted in the Expositor, says: "When I 
went into my first battle I was sure I would run at the first 
shot. When the fire came on the line I looked around me, and 
saw Joe and Tom both standing fast. I said to myself that I 
could stand it as long as they did, so I didn't run. When the 
fight was over I learned they had said the same thing about me 
— they were going to run when I did." 

Stand firm for the right, always — for the sake of others as 
well as yourself. 

CROSSING A BRIDGE. 

"A regiment of soldiers marching in step across a trestle or 
other light bridge would cause such a tremendous swaying 
motion that it would give way, and so soldiers always 'break 
step' in crossing such a bridge." 

It is when the citizens of a community march "in step" against 
any evil that they are enabled to exert such an influence as to 
cause it to give way before their combined efforts. When they 
"break step" the devil goes on unmolested in his work. 

LIONS IN THE WAY. 

During the building of the Cape-to-Cairo railway in Africa, 
that the riches of the land might be opened up to civilization, 
work on the big bridge over the Tsavo River was brought to a 
standstill by the ferocity of three man-eating lions, which had 
killed twenty-nine of the laborers. The others refused to pro- 
ceed, but finally were organized on the plan of a military com- 
pany, and slew the beasts. The work was then resumed with 
safety. 

Persons engaged in the effort to make safe paths for them- 
selves and the coming generations must organize and stand 
together if they would slay the many lions hungering for the 
best blood of the youths of our land. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 277 



UNSELFISHNESS. 

WHEN SELF IS FORGOTTEN. 

"When a dog is not noticed he doesn't like it," says a writer. 
"But when the dog is after a fox he doesn't care whether he is 
noticed or not. If a minister is seeking for souls, he will not 
think of himself. Self is forgotten in the single aim to save 
others." 

"ALWAYS THINKING OF OTHERS." 

A Korean missionary overheard two heathen talking about 
the Christians. "What do you think of this new faith?" one 
asked. "Are you going to be a Christian too ?" "No," was the 
reply; "how could I? I have to think of myself, and these 
Christians are always thinking of others." — Record of Christian 
Work. 

THE PURPOSE OF THEIR LIGHT. 

In a magazine appeared a remarkable picture of four natives 
illuminating the dark passage leading to the tomb of the Cheops 
in the heart of the great pyramid of Egypt. They were not 
trying to display themselves, but the wonderful works about 
them. And so, if we will permit it, the light from heaven will 
shine through us, and the lost will see the wonderful works of 
Jehovah, and be led to him. — Rev. M. M. Davis, in Christian 
Standard. 

HOW FAR MAN CAN SEE. 

Experiments made in the German Army for ascertaining at 
what distance one soldier could recognize another, proved that a 
person seen once before could be recognized at a distance of 
eighty feet, and an acquaintance at three hundred. Popular 
Mechanics says that sailors, hunters and farmers can usually 
see clearly six hundred feet, probably due to their constant train- 
ing in determining distant objects. 

In the affairs of life many do not see beyond their own 



278 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



needs. When made acquainted with conditions in general, their 
range of vision increases. The real philanthropist, in heart and 
deed, sees, with the eyes of knowledge and faith, others who 
may be far away, because of a constant unselfishness in the 
welfare of the whole human family. 

ACT MISUNDERSTOOD. 

Two boys were taken to the Juvenile Court in Kansas City, 
Kan., on the charge of stealing a horse. When they explained 
that they had simply, through pity, taken the animal from the 
street to a shed for protection from the cold, biting winds, the 
judge dismissed the case with the remark: "It's a shame you 
were brought here. What you need is a reward, not a fine." 

Many times the actions of well-meaning people are misjudged. 
If we always knew the details, we would often praise instead of 
blame. 

FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS. 

The plague once came from London to the village of Eyam, 
in its worst form. Rev. Mr. Mopessen, the rector, and his wife 
resolved to stay and care for the sick. All the people wanted 
to fly to other places, but by the influence of the rector they 
were induced to remain at Eyam, in order not to risk spreading 
the disease, which often meant death in a day. Not even one 
case broke out in any neighboring town, but 259 of the inhabitants 
of the afflicted village died. By their unselfish act they undoubt- 
edly saved the lives of thousands of others. — Amy D. Putnam. 

THE WONDERFUL BOTTLE-ANT. 

Of all the self-sacrificing creatures that live, I know of none 
which appeal to me more strongly than the ants which act as 
honey-bottles for their colonies. The other workers go out and 
gather the honey, bring it to the nest, regurgitate it, and the 
bottle-ants store it away. Then they crawl as best their won- 
derfully distended abdomens will permit, and attach themselves 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 279 



to the rafters of their house, where they hang patiently, always 
ready to "turn up the honey- jug" for the baby ants and for the 
workers when they are hungry. As for themselves, no amount 
of hunger seems to tempt them into feeding from their own 
stores. How their little feet manage to hold on to the ceiling 
of their house day after day and month after month I can not 
imagine. . . . Filled with the richest food, they yet are willing 
to starve in order that their brothers and sisters may have 
their regular meals. — William Joseph Showalter, in San Fran- 
cisco Chronicle. 

KEEPING OUT OF SIGHT. 

Seeking diversion by fishing in the streams of Scotland, a 
literary man went from the city with patent pole and a complete 
outfit of the most expensive kind. After hours of effort without 
even a bite, he came across a country boy with only a switch 
for a pole and a bent pin for a hook — but he had a long string 
of fish. 

"Why is it / can't catch any?" the man inquired. 
"Because you don't keep yourself out of sight," the boy 
quietly replied. 

This is the secret of fishing for men as well as trout. Hold 
up the cross of Christ. Send the people away talking about him 
instead of praising you. — The Volunteer. 

SAFETY-WALLS IN POWDER-PLANTS. 

Instead of a single large plant, powder manufacturers usually 
maintain several small ones in different localities, so that if there 
be an explosion less loss is sustained. Each of these plants is 
built with one safety-wall. When the accidental explosion occurs, 
it readily gives way, while the remainder of the structure stands 
practically uninjured; otherwise the entire plant would be in 
danger of destruction. 

There are many times in life when, in order to bring the 
greatest good to the greatest number, some one must step aside, 



280 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



perhaps from a long-cherished desire. There are souls so noble 
that they continually live in the spirit which might be represented 
by the safety-wall. Come what will, they stand ready, without 
a word of complaint, to sacrifice personal ambition in order that 
good may come to others. 

CHURCH BUILT FROM ONE STONE. 

The Presbyterian Church at Waterloo, la., erected in 1891, 
was made entirely from one huge boulder, which for countless 
ages, presumably, had rested in a meadow four miles from that 
city. The owner of the land donated the great rock in order to 
have it removed. By dynamiting, it was broken into hundreds 
of pieces, and built into a large, beautiful structure, the pride of 
the town, says Mrs. S. M. Wright, in the Christian Herald. It 
is estimated that as one piece it weighed twenty-five hundred 
tons. It measured twenty-eight feet high, thirty feet long and 
twenty feet wide. 

Preserving itself from contact with other material, as it were, 
it was useless. Surrendered, while it lost its original identity, 
it was made to serve in aiding the advancement of the greatest 
cause upon earth. 

Men and women, wrapped up in themselves, are as useless as 
was this boulder. Surrendered to the master Builder, Christ, 
they are transformed into beings of power for good, to become 
parts of the great Temple of Service in the world, for its 
redemption. 

VALUES. 

FOUND IN THE EARTH. 

You need not know some persons long to learn what is upper- 
most in their minds. Perhaps often when hoping for the dis- 
covery of high ideals in others you meet with disappointment, 
hence know how to appreciate the chagrin that came to the 
school inspector who was examining a primary class. "Now, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 281 



children," he asked, "what else do we find in the earth besides 
coal?" 

He thought the answer, of course, would be gold, copper, or 
some other metal, but, instead, a boy who was extremely fond 
of fishing spoke up confidently: 

"Worms, Mister! Worms!" 

THE WORLD'S LARGEST BELL. 

Moscow, the well-known manufacturing city in Russia, is 
noted for two things — a great decorative cannon and a colossal 
bell, the largest in the world. The bell, which was cracked 
before it had ever been placed in the tower, has a rim sixty 
feet in circumference, is nineteen feet high and weighs 196 tons. 
Notwithstanding their immense proportions, neither has ever 
been of any use, as the cannon has never been fired, nor has the 
bell ever been tolled. 

The only claim of some men and women to distinction is that 
they have great possessions — perhaps several thousand acres of 
land and a few million dollars. Like the city of Moscow, they 
are noted for what they possess that has never been of any use. 

THE SOLDIER DIDN'T KNOW. 

The Braganza diamond, the size of a pullet's egg, is valued 
at $1,500,000; the Pitt diamond, often called the "Regent," at 
$700,000; the Orloff, a Russian crown jewel, at $450,000. It is 
said that the Florentine diamond, one of the Austrian crown 
jewels, once came by chance and legitimately into the possession 
of a private soldier. Not knowing its value, he sold it for fifty 
cents. — Boys' World. 

The most valuable of all jewels is love. It has rightly been 
called "the greatest thing in the world." The king or queen may 
possess it, but no more so than the humblest citizen. Like the 
soldier with the wonderful jewel in his possession, many do not 
realize its value. There is only one way it can be taken from us 



282 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



— when Hate comes into the heart, Love goes out. The two can 
not dwell together. 

THE IMPERIAL TOPAZ. 

Many years ago an English traveler in Rome saw an Italian 
peasant examining a little stone found in the ruins of an old 
palace, and offered him five dollars for it, which was gladly 
accepted. The new owner took it to a lapidary, had it examined, 
and it proved to be the world-famous imperial topaz, which once 
dazzled in the crown of Caesar Augustus, and valued at $250,000. 

Like the peasant who knew not the worth of that which he 
possessed, many do not realize the worth of the jewels within 
the reach of all — the golden hours, set with sixty diamonds 
each. In every one of them it is possible to do some kind act 
that will live in its influence long after the diamonds of earth 
have lost their value. 

WHAT MENTAL ANGUISH IS WORTH. 

The Public Ledger once told of an Arkansas grocer who re- 
ceived a telegram announcing that a certain friend was dead. 
The message, should have stated that the friend was "on his way." 
The misleading information so wrought upon the grocer's 
emotions that he brought suit against the telegraph company for 
the error, the jury awarding him $50 for the damage to his 
physical system. 

It is contended by some who have made it a study that one 
fit of anger takes from the body more vitality than the hardest 
day's work it is possible to do, and that great sorrow also 
draws heavily upon one's strength. 

Gradually men are coming to learn that the finer human 
qualities can not be disregarded without a corresponding deple- 
tion of physical, as well as mental, moral and spiritual strength. 
Looked at from any standpoint, it is wise to heed the exhortation 
in the good Book to be diligent in the increase of faith, virtue, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 283 



knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness 
and love. 

HE SAVED HIS SHOES. 

A New York paper published the story of an intoxicated man 
who removed his new shoes and put them out of harm's way, 
then lay down in his stupor upon the trolley-track on upper 
Broadway. The fender of an approaching car threw him off, 
inflicting a scalp wound. His shoes were not hurt. Commenting 
upon the incident, the Christian Herald said : 

"We can think of no greater folly than the attempt to put 
one's shoes out of danger, disregarding altogether the safety of 
one's head. But, after all, do we not every day see people doing 
things equally absurd? Men plan to protect the trifling things 
accumulated here — jewels, money, houses, land — and take no 
care to protect the immortal soul. Is that saner than the sleepy 
mutterings of a drunken man : 'I will save my new shoes ; never 
mind my head'?" 

WAR. 

TERRIBLE COST OF WAR. 

Benjamin F. Trueblood, LL.D., estimates that the loss of life 
in the wars of the world during the nineteenth century totaled 
at least fourteen million, while the cost in money is put at forty 
thousand millions of dollars — "a sum so vast that the mention 
of it leaves only a confused impression upon the mind." 

The reader should remember that these figures, vast as they 
are, include only one century. It will truly be a glad day for 
this sorrowing world when the words in Isa. 2 : 4 come true : 
"For he will judge between the nations, and will decide con- 
cerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into 
ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ; nation shall 
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war 
any more." 



284 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. 

Had England settled her disputes with the Boers by arbi- 
tration, she would have saved three years of bitterness and 
$1,100,000,000, which might have been expended thus: one 
thousand old people's homes at $100,000 each; one thousand pub- 
lic playgrounds at $50,000 each; one thousand public libraries at 
$50,000 each; one thousand trade schools at $200,000 each; five 
hundred hospitals at $200,000 each ; three thousand public schools 
at $100,000 each; 150,000 workingmen's houses at $2,000 each.— 
Primer of Peace Movement. 

The cost of the great European war of 1914 to the principal 
nations involved was estimated at $54,000,000 a day. 

"DON'T CHEER; THEY'RE DYING." 

When the yellow and red flag was pulled down on the "Almi- 
rante Oquendo," during the Spanish-American War of 1898, the 
commander of the U. S. battleship "Texas" gave the order to 
his men: "Don't cheer; they're dying." From these words, 
Charles W. Thompson wrote, in the New York Sun : 

The victor looks over the shot-churned wave 
At the riven ship of his foemen brave, 

And the men in their life-blood lying; 
And the joy of conquest leaves his eyes, 
The lust of fame and of battle dies, 

And he says: "Don't cheer; they're dying." 

WATCHFULNESS. 

UNFORTUNATE NAP. 

An Indiana constable boarded a train with a prisoner, to take 
him to jail in another town, and the motion of the train soon 
put the officer to sleep. When he awoke, he found that the 
other had leaped from the moving car and that he himself had 
been handcuffed with the irons he had failed to put on the 
prisoner. 

Many a young man has boarded the train of life with evil 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 285 



companions and fallen asleep to the dangers surrounding him, 
awaking to find himself handcuffed. Arouse, friend! Watch 
Satan! Give not him nor his helpers a chance to bind you with 
the iron bands of sinful habits. 

THE CRY OF DISTRESS. 

A friend asked a life-saver at Newport, R. I., how he could 
tell when any one of the thousands of persons on the beach and 
in the water was in need of help, to which he replied : "There has 
never been a time that I could not distinguish the cry of distress 
above all other noises." And that is exactly like God. In the 
midst of the babel and confusion he never fails to hear the soul 
that cries out to him for help amid the breakers and storms of 
life. — The Expositor. 

THE AWAKENING. 

An engineer on one of the big railroad lines centering in 
Chicago fell asleep at the throttle, while his engine was hauling 
coaches bearing over three hundred passengers. He awoke with 
a start to see a danger signal ahead, and stopped just in time to 
avoid a terrible wreck. 

The captain of a Norwegian ship likewise went to sleep on 
duty, and awoke not a moment too soon to prevent a collision 
with an English merchant vessel. 

We are each responsible for the safety of perhaps hundreds 
who may feel secure in following our example. Dear hearer, if 
your hand is on the lever of Influence, and you feel the least bit 
drowsy, wake up — wake up! 

WISDOM. 

MUCH IN LITTLE SPACE. 

When a man finds fault, it is nobody's fault but his own. . . . 
No man can run into debt without exceeding the speed limit. . . . 
Sometimes the thing we get for nothing is nothing to our credit. 



286 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



. . . Things won't come your way if you insist on always having 
your way. . . . You will never catch up with a successful man 
by trying to run him down. . . . Too many let the worst they 
can guess about a man eclipse the good they know about him. — 
C. A. Lee. 

CHANGE YOUR PLANS. 

It is pretty hard for us, sometimes, to learn that, while prin- 
ciples never wear out, plans and methods sooner or later are 
likely to do so. It is folly to suppose that the thing which suc- 
ceeded at one time will prove equally successful under all con- 
ditions. Blessed is that one who has had the good sense to 
discard a plan that has been really successful, but which is no 
longer producing good results. — The Lookout. 

SAYINGS OF LINCOLN. 

"I do not think much of a man who is not wiser to-day than 
he was yesterday. . . . Broken eggs can not be mended. . . . No 
man is good enough to govern another man without that other 
man's consent. . . . When I am dead I want my friends to re- 
member that I always plucked a thistle and planted a rose when 
in my power. ... I do not wish to die until the world is better 
for my having lived. . . . All that I am or hope to be I owe to 
my angel mother." 

A WONDERFUL BELL. 

Dr. Francis E. Clark, in writing of the marvels of the great 
cathedral at Freiburg, Germany (about seven hundred years old), 
tells of its many bells, one of which is called "Susanna," weigh- 
ing ten thousand pounds, "whose tongue, as is appropriate to a 
female of such dimensions, weighs four hundred pounds." It 
sends out its loud, resounding peals every Friday at eleven o'clock 
as a memorial of the crucifixion of Jesus. 

If the human tongue would ring out only in proportion to its 
relative size, compared with the rest of the body, there would be 



FOR PUBUC SPEAKERS 287 



much less loud, frivolous talking in the world. In Prov. 15:2 
is a truth all would do well to heed: "The tongue of the wise 
uttereth knowledge aright, but the mouth of fools poureth out 
folly." 



19 



MISCELLANEOUS 



SEPARATE LINKS. 

GREED. 

Worked Until He Fell. — Because he had been compelled to 
work sixty-three hours out of seventy-two, a freight conductor 
on one of the leading Eastern railroads became exhausted on 
the third day and fell between the engine and a car, crushing 
his right arm and injuring his spine. He brought suit against 
the corporation and was awarded $75,000. 

Thus does greed for the sole sake of gain bring its own 
punishment. HARVEST. 

Sowing the Tares. — A prisoner in the Maryland Penitentiary, 

after hearing D. L. Moody, retired to his cell, where he wrote 

these impressive words and handed them to Mr. Moody, who 

read them at Maryland Institute the same day. Later the words 

were set to music by W. T. Giffee, and published in his book, 

"Giffee's Male Choir": 

"Sowing the tares, when it might have been wheat; 
Sowing of malice, spite and deceit. 
We might have sown roses amid life's sad cares 
While we were so cruelly sowing the tares. 

"Sowing the tares, how dark the black sin; 
Mingling a curse with life's sweetest hymn, 
And heeding no anguish, no piteous prayers, 
While we were so cruelly sowing the tares. 

"Sowing the tares that bring sorrow down, 
Rob of its jewels life's fairest crown, 
And turning to silver the once golden hairs, 
Grown whiter and whiter as we sowed the tares. 

"Sowing the tares under cover of night, 
Which might have been wheat, all golden and bright. 
O heart, turn to God with repentance and prayers, 
And plead for forgiveness for sowing the tares." 
289 



290 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



HEREDITY. 

"Blood Will Tell." — The Jukes family, famous in crime, con- 
sisted of parents and five sons. The mother was an inferior 
woman. The boys were likewise. They married and had chil- 
dren. The offspring numbered twelve hundred in three-quarters 
of a century. About the year 1873 the records of 709 were 
traced for scientific purposes, when it was found that 208 were 
paupers, 104 criminals, 60 thieves, 7 murderers, and 165 convicted 
of miscellaneous crimes. The cost to the State in trying the 
various cases was $1,308,000. 

The State Department of Charities of New Jersey, in its re- 
port on the Piney family, existing amid the squalor of the pine 
belt of that State, found that of 199 whose records were looked 
up, 124 were degenerate, 20 were criminals, 15 illegitimate, 12 in 
the almshouse, and that only 13 were normal. 

Truly, the wrongs of parents cause sorrow and sinning among 
their offspring, even to the third and fourth generations. 

INDECISION. 

The Value of a Moment. — "Two boys were skating on 
an ice-floe," says a writer, "which had been grounded in Picton 
Harbor, when one of them noticed that it was moving slowly 
away from the shore. With a warning shout he sprang in, and, 
after a desperate struggle, escaped. The other hesitated, watch- 
ing the widening distance between him and safety as the ice 
caught the sweep of the tide. With a wild cry he, too, sprang in 
— but he never reached the shore. The moment of indecision 
cost him his life." 

INFIDELITY. 

Confessed Defeat. — Julian, Emperor of Rome, a pronounced 
infidel, died on the battlefield fighting Christians. He was pierced 
in the side by an arrow. Making a cup of his hands, he caught 
the blood from the wound, which he tossed in the air, and, as 
he did so, died, calling out : "O Nazarene, thou hast conquered !" 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 291 



PRECEDENT. 

The Calf Path. — There was a time when one who was able 
to point to a precedent made a strong impression upon his hearers, 
whatever the cause he espoused. This characteristic of human 
nature is well presented by Sam Walter Foss in his poem, "The 
Calf Path," which starts thus: 

"One day through the primeval wood 
A calf walked home, as good calves should; 
But made a trail all bent askew, 
A crooked trail, as all calves do. 

"Since then two hundred years have fled, 
And, I infer, the calf is dead — 
But still he left behind his trail, 
And thereby hangs a moral tale." 

Mr. Foss proceeds to tell how a dog next went over the 
trail, later the bell-wether sheep, followed by its flock, making 
a path for men ; how the path became a lane ; and the lane a 
road; the road a village street, "and this, before men were 
aware, a city's crowded thoroughfare," over which one hundred 
thousand men passed each day, because a calf first went that 
way. "For thus such reverence is lent to well-established 
precedent." 

PRUDENCE. 

A Boy's Resolution. — "I will be kind to dumb animals, such 
as tigers, lions and elephants (stray cats and dogs, however, had 
better keep out of this neighborhood)." 

This is much like men who obey their superiors with polite- 
ness and insult their inferiors with harsh language. 

RETRIBUTION. 

"Within the Law." — He who thinks to profit by some clever 
maneuver need not be surprised if he finds himself the loser in- 
stead. The story is told of a young man who bought two thou- 
sand cigars, had them insured, smoked them up, then brought 
suit against the insurance company on the ground that they were 



292 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 

destroyed by fire. The court granted his claim; and then the 
company sued him on the charge of setting fire to his own prop- 
erty. The same court fined the young man and sentenced him to 
three months in jail. 

TRIFLES. 

Museum of Fleas. — One of the wealthiest men of the early 
part of the twentieth century made a collection of fleas, estab- 
lishing a museum, with several hundred specimens, including the 
sand-flea and the flea of the white seal, showing that at least 
one of them is not averse to water. Perhaps the action should 
be commended, as a study of insect life, but no doubt it will 
strike the average person as a waste of time and money. 

Could we but see into the inner lives of others, it is possible 
we would often be surprised at the large number of little things 
which they have stored up in their hearts — petty spites, jealousies, 
slights, shortcomings, bickerings. Where should be a storehouse 
of the rich, helpful things of life, they have crowded in the small 
annoyances, cherishing them to the spoiling of their enjoyment 
of the better things. Don't make your heart a museum of fleas. 
Instead, make it a palace of generous impulses, prompting to the 
rendering of many kindly deeds. 

TRUSTFULNESS. 

Spared Fawn's Life. — Rev. C. A. Dixon tells of a young man, 
fond of hunting, who was out walking one morning, when he 
came upon a little fawn, wearied in its efforts to escape a pack 
of hounds, already near. Instead of running farther, it came 
and fell in a heap at his feet. Its trustfulness so touched him 
that he resolved to save its life, which he did, but not without 
fighting off the hounds for half an hour. Its weakness appealed 
to his strength, and he carried it home, where it became a playful 
pet for his children. "So the Christian's weakness appeals to 
the strength of God. Yes, and our Shepherd brings us into his 
own household." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 293 



WEEPING. 

Nature's Relief. — The strongest women sometimes need the 
safety-valves of tears. They cry for the sake 1 of their health 
and not for graft. A woman who needs and takes a good cry 
generally sneaks off by herself. In an hour she emerges radiant, 
smiling, refreshed, and strong enough to take up the burden of 
life and stand straight under it. With a weak and selfish woman, 
tears in public are a weapon for graft. Take your choice, you 
men who are thinking of marriage. — Delineator, 



USE OF OBJECTS 

THE APPEAL THROUGH THE EYE. 

The value of objects in teaching, or in addressing an audience, 
is emphasized in the fact, scientifically demonstrated, that eighty 
impressions are made upon the mind through the eye to one 
through the ear. In this connection, it is well to reflect that 
we can see much farther than we hear. It is said that while 
lightning may be seen two hundred miles away, thunder is seldom 
heard at a greater distance than ten miles. 

Some experts in child-teaching classify children as "ear- 
minded" and "eye-minded." Those who are thought to be dull, 
because unable to memorize a line by reading, may do so at 
once by hearing it read. On the other hand, there are those who 
are unable to learn from hearing others read or speak, who may 
readily retain when they read for themselves — the eye conveying 
the information from the printed page to the brain. 

From this it seems wise to frequently utilize the means of 
appeal through the eye. The use of objects is not only helpful 
in fixing facts upon the minds of the young, but older persons as 
well. Speakers who are called upon to make talks to boys and 
girls in audiences where men and women are also assembled, 
usually will find the older ones as well as the children giving the 
closest attention to the portion of the address in which some 
object, picture or motion is used. 

The following are offered as aids, with the hope that each 
may prove helpful, and that the list as a whole may suggest 
many others to those who have occasion to make use of object- 
illustrations : 

205 



296 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



ALPHABET BLOCKS. 

Choosing. — Here are all the letters of the alphabet, mixed up, 
as you see. But boys and girls who know how, can spell many 
words with them. Mary, please find the blocks that spell "love." 
That's right. Now, Walter, you will pick out the ones that spell 
"hate." You see, each of you found and made what you were 
looking for. Living in this world is much like playing with a 
box of letters. Some persons are continually doing the things 
that spell "hate." They are very unhappy. Othere are doing 
the things that spell "love," and their lives are full of joy. 

APPLES. 

Conduct. — Have you ever known any one who was "too 
good"? Or any one whom a tinge of wickedness made more 
attractive? No. Let's imagine a woman in a grocery store 
giving an order for a box of apples. Would she say, "I don't 
want them too good ; in fact, prefer that they be partly spoiled" ? 
She surely would not. She would want the best to be obtained. 
The persons who do as near right as possible will, like the good 
apples, be far more in demand than those who think it smart 
to be "a little bit tough." 

Envy. — Hold up apparently good apple with worm-hole. Cut 
it open and show how the worm has commenced eating at the 
heart, and tell how the apple would soon be ruined by it. Envy, 
jealousy, hatred, may seem small things to hold in our hearts, 
but we must put them out. If we do not, like the worm in the 
apple, they will grow until they ruin us. 

BANDAGE. 

Blindness. — Tie bandage over the eyes of some one to show 
how the light is shut out from his vision. We have all seen 
blind people. It's a pitiful sight. They must feel their way 
around with their hands or a stick, or be led by a friend. In 
China there are half a million blind men and women, due largely 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 297 



to unclean habits and surroundings. . . . There is another kind 
of blindness far worse. Some folks see no good in those they 
do not like; they are blinded by prejudice and hate. Others see 
none of the beauties of nature ; they are too busy making money. 
Many are blind to things that go wrong. A father once said, "I 
see no harm in the liquor business." Later his oldest son became 
a drunkard; then he saw the awful harm of it, and changed 
from a friend of the liquor interests to a bitter antagonist. 

BANK-BOOK. 

Treasures. — This book shows that Thomas Baldwin has 
$6,450 on deposit in the First National Bank, which is all very 
well in its way; but there is something more important than 
having money to one's credit and that is many good deeds. We 
can all become rich in this way. Every kind, helpful act is a de- 
posit in the bank of heaven, for Jesus said: "Lay up for your- 
selves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth 
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal ; for 
where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." 

BASEBALL. 

Habits. — Much of the value of a pitcher to a baseball team 
is his ability to pitch curves. It is not an easy thing to do — at 
first. It comes from practice — with some, a long, hard, patient 
persistence before proficiency is attained. . . . There are some 
things in life that we do not find easy. We let our temper fly 
away off on a tangent. We pitch our angry words out thought- 
lessly — and then feel sorry about it. If we would control our 
words and make them just what we want them to be, we must, 
like the pitcher, practice, and keep at it until we succeed. 

BELLS. 

Conscience. — Show small hand-bell. Ring it. Get your 
hearers to mention a variety of bells and tell what they are for. 
In the sick-room, to call the nurse; in the steeple, to call the 



298 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



people to Sunday school and church. . . . Harry picked up a 
rock to throw at a bird, but stopped suddenly and let it fall. A 
little farther on he saw an old woman struggling along with a 
heavy bundle. He took it in his arms and rested her while they 
walked over a block together. Something in him rang out clearly 
each time, telling him not to do one thing, and to do the other. 
It was the bell of conscience. He obeyed it and was happy. 

BOARDS. 

Character. — Show three boards, any length or width. Her* 
is one with a big knot-hole, and rough on both sides. Here's 
another a little better — smooth on one side and only a small 
knot-hole. The third is perfectly sound, smooth all around and 
attractive to the eye. You have need of a board. Which will 
you take? ... A store manager advertises, "Boy Wanted." 
Many call to see him — some carelessly dressed, with soiled hands 
and cigarette breath; others neatly attired, but the man learns 
they are deceptive, tell little falsehoods and spend their time 
carelessly. Here is one youth "clean as a whistle," inside and 
out, with clean hands and a pure heart. Which one does the 
manager employ? 

BOOKS. 

Wisdom. — Here is a book telling how to make things. Here 
is another on the wonders of nature; another about great men 
and what made them successful. Would you rather have one of 
these or an orange? Why, the book, of course. It is food for 
the mind. You want wisdom. When Solomon was given his 
choice of the things he would like, he asked for wisdom. He 
wanted to know all about things. God granted his desire. What 
is the best book in the world? The Bible; yes. Why? It tells 
us all about ourselves, how to live, how to treat others, how to 
be happy here and in the life to come. 

Timothy Dwight has well said: "The Bible is a window in 
this prison-world through which we may look into eternity." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 299 



BOTTLES. 

Selfishness. — One bottle filled with water, corked tight; an- 
other, empty. Fableize them. The first, a person with an 
abundance, selfishly keeping it all; the other, a man in need, 
simply asking a drink to quench his thirst. Tell of the Dead 
Sea. It keeps all it gets. It is so dead that no animal life can 
exist in it, nor vegetation grow upon its shores. Contrast with 
lakes which are fresh, sparkling and life-sustaining, because they 
give out a portion of all they receive. The happy, beautiful life 
is the one that cheers and strengthens others. 

The Mind. — Have two bottles containing water, one corked 
tight and the other with stopper by its side. Dip dropper into 
ink, hold over each bottle, and press out small quantity. The 
uncorked bottle soon looks black, while the other remains clean, 
after the ink has dripped down its side, into a saucer. . . . The 
bottles are like people ; some open their minds to unclean stories, 
think about them, talk about them, finally becoming black with 
sin. Others refuse to feed on unclean things, and remain pure 
and wholesome in their influence for good. "We can not keep 
the birds from flying over our heads, but we can prevent them 
from building their nests in our hair." 

BREAD. 

Growth. — If we expect to grow and keep well, we must sub- 
sist on that which will make rich blood and strong muscles. One 
of the most important of all foods is bread. During great 
famines in India thousands die for want of bread. Sometimes 
people eat and drink things which do them no good, only harm. 
In Central America grows a plant called the nardoo, which 
satisfies hunger, but is destitute of all nutritious elements. A 
party of Englishmen once perished of starvation while feeding 
daily upon it. . . . To really live we must have more than food 
for the body. We must have food for the mind and soul. We 
must read and think about the right things. We must have a 



300 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



source of supply. In John 6 : 35 Jesus says : "I am the bread of 
life ; he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth 
on me shall never thirst." 

BRICK. 

Talents. — In every large city are great buildings made of 
brick. It requires thousands of them. Suppose this brick were 
one of a great pile and should refuse to be used because it would 
fill only a small place in the high wall. Then, suppose each of 
the others followed its example. We know what the result 
would be. . . . We all know persons, perhaps, whose lives are 
almost as worthless because they refuse to do the little things 
they could do well. By doing our part and every one else doing 
his part the world is made better because we have lived in it. 

BRIDLE. 

Self-control. — How many of you have ever been on a pony 
or driven a team? How did you guide the horses? By drawing 
the reins fastened to the bridle-bit. In the third chapter of James 
we read: "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect 
man, and able to bridle the whole body." We see here how we 
may have perfect self-control. If we keep our words right, we 
have done the hardest thing of all. Some men have conquered 
great cities, but couldn't conquer themselves. Get a good grip 
on the lines, and make yourself say and do the things you know 
you should say and do. 

BUCKETS. 

Trifles. — Exhibit two tin buckets or other receptacles, one 
in good condition and one with small hole in bottom. From the 
first pour water into the other. Let a few drops leak out, then 
quickly change contents back into good bucket. Explain how 
all would have been lost in the same way, and that a small leak 
may even sink a great ship. Relate: the story of the Holland 
boy who held his hand over a leak in a big dyke, keeping back 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 301 



the waters until help came, thus saving perhaps many lives. 
. . . Sometimes we are conscious of little acts we know are 
wrong. They seem so small we think no harm can come from 
them. But we are mistaken. If not checked, they will gradually 
but surely unfit us for life's work. We must overcome them 
or they will overcome us. 

CANDLES. 

Conduct. — One candle in good condition, another with wick 
damp. Light both. Why does one shine with such a bright, 
steady flame, while the other flickers and sputters? Because one 
is as it should be and the other has partaken of something it 
should not. . . . Some boys and girls have bright, steady eyes 
and look you straight in the face, because they are doing right. 
Others turn the head and "nicker" when they speak to you, 
)>ecause they have done something wrong. 

CARBON-PAPER. 

Influence. — Have prepared beforehand several sheets of 
white paper with the r.a:r.e :: a person on each, and between 
these have sheets of carbon-paper. Ask the one whose name is 
on the top sheet to come forward and write "What I do is felt 
by others." Then have him make a long, straight mark and a 
long, crooked one. Hold up to the view of the group and read 
the words, asking, "Is that true?"' Get your hearers to talk 
about it. Then surprise them by showing the different sheets 
of paper, each bearing the same words and marks. Explain that, 
while Harry wrote only on his sheet, the impression thus made 
was carried to all the others, and that our conduct in life will 
just as surely make an impression for good or ill upon others. 

COTTON. 

Carelessness. — It wouldn't require much cotton in your ears 
to make you ''hard of hearing/' Perhaps when mother called to 
her children in another room they didn't answer. They were 



302 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



"hard of hearing" because they were so busy playing. Maybe 
they didn't wish to hear her dear voice just then. We should be 
just as prompt in hearing mother when she calls us to do some 
little errand for her as when she calls us to the dinner-table, 
loaded with good things to eat. 

DUMMY, OR LARGE DOLL. 

Idols and Idlers. — (Your clothing merchant will no doubt 
gladly loan you a boy dummy.) Introduce the illustration by 
introducing yourself to the dummy, and comment upon the fact 
that he pays no attention to you — does not look at you, walk 
toward, shake hands with nor speak to you. After brief remarks 
about idols and idol-worship, read Ps. 115:5-7: "They have 
mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; 
they have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they 
smell not; they have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, 
but they walk not; neither speak they through their throats." 
Compare this striking description of the idol to the idlers of 
to-day, who, although blessed with health, in the possession of 
their senses and having many opportunities for doing good, yet 
whose lives of indolence are as useless as the idols of the heathen 
or the merchant's dummy. A dummy of flesh and blood is but 
little better than a dummy of wood or stone, silver or gold. We 
should be glad to see and hear the good, then with ready hands 
and willing feet carry it to others. 

EGGS. 

Testing. — We speak of good and bad eggs. Have you seen 
men testing eggs by holding them close to a strong light? They 
see right into them, keeping the good ones and throwing the 
others away. Doctors use an instrument called the X-ray, as 
you know, and by means of this can see the inside of a body — 
locate broken bones, or other difficulties; a bullet, which, if not 
removed, may cause blood poisoning. ... So the great Physician 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 303 



can see into our hearts, and knows whether we have any "broken 
words" there — little stories ; or whether a "bullet" of hatred 
has lodged there, which, if not taken out, may poison our whole 
spiritual and soul system with envy. God can make us right, if 
we will let him. 

ELECTRIC-LIGHT BULB. 

Effectiveness. — This bulb is of use only when — will some 
one please tell us? — when in its proper place to receive and give 
forth its light. So we are of use in the world only when in our 
place, doing our work to the best of our ability. In this way 
alone can we "let our light shine" and thus help others. 

ELECTRIC-LIGHT WIRE. 

Example. — Here is a piece of insulated wire. While you 
look at this I want you to think of a strike in a Western city. 
It was among the employes of a great lighting system. Some 
one cut a big lead-wire, throwing a large section of the city in 
darkness. . . . When good men and women go on a "strike" 
against the performance of some duty because things do not go 
to suit them, they often "cut the wire" of their influence, thus 
leaving in darkness many who had been following the light of 
their good example. 

ERASER. 

Forgiveness. — Write a sentence on the blackboard with red 
chalk, purposely making several mistakes. Ask the first one dis- 
covering them to come forward and erase it all. Then write 
it again, correctly, with white chalk. . . . When we make a mis- 
take and do wrong we can ask God to forgive us — to rub it all 
out; "for the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from 
all sin." Will God hear us ? Yes, for we read in Isa. 1 : 18 : 
"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; 
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Seeing 
that God is ready to forgive us when we make mistakes, how 
20 



304 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



should we act toward those who wrong us? We find our answer 
in Eph. 4 : 32 : "Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, for- 
giving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven 
you." 

ENVELOPES. 

Courtesy. — Here are two letters, sealed. One envelope bears 
address and stamp, while the other is improperly addressed and 
has no stamp. Suppose you drop both into a mail-box ; what will 
become of them? One will reach the person for whom it is 
intended and the other will not. . . . Sometimes the words we 
utter fail to reach the hearts of others because we do not 
properly "address" them; because we speak sharp, cross words. 
We haven't the stamp of unselfish sincerity in our remarks, 
hence our message is lost. 

FLAGS. 

Missions. — Small and inexpensive flags may be obtained at 
stores, or by sending to publishing-houses. Of course you will 
include the United States colors. If possible, procure a Christian 
flag — white, with red cross on blue field in upper left-hand cor- 
ner. Pass them around. Explain that each country has its own 
flag, its own laws, its own customs, but the billion and a half 
people in the world constitute one great family, with the same 
longings and emotions; that as there is one flag — the Christian 
flag — above all others, so is there one Book above all others-— 
the Bible. It teaches us that God is the same loving Father to 
people of all colors and nations, and that the gospel of Jesus, 
his Son, is for every one, for Christ said to his disciples, "Go ye 
into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation." 

GLASS. 

Prejudice. — (Use colored glass or goggles.) Charles and 
Sam, here's a piece of glass for each of you. Look through it 
and tell me what color this handkerchief appears. Charley says 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 305 



it's "blue" and Sam thinks it's "brown." You're both wrong. 
Now put the glass aside; what color is the handkerchief? You 
both answer "white," and that's correct. So, we will never really 
know our friends and of the good in their lives until we look at 
them without the colored glasses of prejudice. 



Love. — Hand some one a key and ask him to unlock a door, 
desk, or library-case, whichever may be the most convenient. 
Be sure beforehand that it has been locked. Purposely hand 
out the wrong key, and when an unsuccessful effort has been 
made, present the right one, whereupon the lock is readily 
turned. The last key is like love, kindness, goodwill. Many 
times in life we find doors that will open to no other power. In 
the book, "The Legacy of the Golden Key," is this sentiment, 
which all would do well to memorize and practice : "Love to 
God and man is the golden key that opens the heart to all good 
and closes it to all evil; that unlocks the gates of doubt and 
discouragement standing across our pathway to success ; that 
unbars the doors of prejudice and hate in the heart of others, 
to reason and justice, thus giving the incentive and preparing 
the way for all the good we may ever hope to do." 



Progress. — (A lesson from 2 Pet. 1:5-7. Make small 
ladder of eight rungs, and on each place one of the character- 



"—-^ — rung, "Virtue" on the 
second, and so on up, as here given.) This is the "Ladder of 



KEYS. 



LADDERS. 



Love 
Brotherly kindness 
Godliness 
Patience 
Self-control 
Knowledge 
Virtue 
FAITH 



istics mentioned ; make 
distinct letters, on card- 
board or paper. If this 
is not convenient, carry 
out same idea on black- 
board. Place the word 
"Faith" on the bottom 



306 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



Progress." With each step we go higher in character-building, 
reaching the climax in what? "Love." We are told that "the 
greatest of these is love." 

Blessedness. — (Ladder of nine rungs. Suggestions for mak- 
ing, same as above. Use in presenting the lesson of the Beati- 



how joy may come from least expected sources. The bee goes 
not alone to the beautiful garden flowers for its honey, but to 
the thistle growing by the dusty roadside, and the thorn-bush 
in the tangled wildwood. God's blessings come not alone to 
the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers and the pure in heart, 
but to the hungry, the persecuted, the reproached and the sorrow- 
ing. 

MASK. 

Insincerity. — This is for the purpose of hiding a real face, 
as you all know. By the way, have you observed that most 
manufactured faces are ugly? There is another kind, however, 
which is usually very pleasant. We meet persons who greet us 
with a smile, but we learn later that they tell falsehoods and 
say unkind things about us. There are others who pretend to 
be honest and fair, yet who misrepresent and cheat. What do 
we call such? Hypocrites. Sometimes they deceive us a long 
time before we discover that back of the smiles and handshakes 
is a false heart. All the while there was One who knew. "Man 
looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the 
heart." 



The reproached 
The persecuted 
The peacemakers 
The pure in heart 
The merciful 
That hunger, thirst 
The meek 
They that mourn 
The poor in spirit 



tudes, as given in the 
fifth chapter of Matthew. 
Place on rungs only the 
words necessary for con- 
veying the central thought 
of each, as here indicated, 
commencing at bottom.) 
This is our "Ladder of 
Blessings," and shows us 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 307 



MATCHES. 

Tongues. — Strike a match and light a paper, permitting it to 
burn. From its tiny flame we could start the fire of a great 
furnace, sending out warmth to many rooms ; or form steam for 
operating a giant engine in a factory. Again, it could set fire 
to a building, this in turn to others, thus burning a whole town. 
In the early morning of October 8, 1871, before the sun was up, 
a woman in Chicago struck a match, lighted her lantern and 
went out to the barn to milk her cow. The animal kicked the 
lantern over, the blaze set fire to the barn, and this spread to 
adjoining structures, on and on, for three days, destroying 
17,500 buildings, covering 2,500 acres, leaving 100,000 people 
homeless, causing a total loss of $200,000,000. And just think 
of it. All from one little match! Matches are like tongues — 
very small. Their tiny flames are like words, which may be 
helpful or discouraging, kind or harsh, resulting in good or evil. 
Let's repeat together one of the Proverbs: "Death and life are 
in the power of the tongue." 

MONEY. 

Deception. — (Drop a genuine silver coin and a counterfeit.) 
Do you notice any difference in the sound? Yes. The good 
piece has the right ring, while the counterfeit has not. Same 
way with a good person and a hypocrite. One is "genuine" and 
the other "counterfeit." One lives right and has nothing to 
conceal. The other lives wrong, but tries to pass for an honest 
man. 

Talents. — (Hold up a fifty-cent piece and a silver dollar.) 
Suppose the one of least value should refuse to be used because 
it could do only half as much as the other? Foolish coin, we 
would say. Suppose I should decline to do my part in life be- 
cause I can do only half as much as some others? Foolish man, 
you would say, and rightly. Each coin has a place to fill in 
carrying on the business of the world; so has each of us. 



308 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



MOTION. 

Growth. — (Tie Frank's arms to his sides and fasten his feet 
together. Another boy will go through the motions of cutting 
wood, a third sawing, a fourth walking, a fifth throwing a ball, 
and a sixth striking as if to hit it.) If Frank should remain in 
his present condition for several years, what would be the result? 
Weakness ; ill health. Why ? Because of lack of exercise. What 
about these other boys ? They would be stronger, healthier, hap- 
pier. In what other ways do many boys tie themselves up so 
that they become sallow, and stunted in growth? By smoking, 
drinking, loafing. (Give Frank his liberty by cutting the strings.) 
Now, Frank, you have the same chance as the rest. Yes, all 
boys must have right habits, do honest work, and participate in 
clean games, if they would grow into real manhood. 

Purity. — Show model of the idol of three apes — one with 
"hands," or front paws, over its eyes, another with its ears 
covered, and the third, its mouth. Even though this can not be 
obtained, have your hearers stand up, and lead them in demon- 
strating the meaning of the image. First motion, hands over the 
eyes, "see no evil;" second, hands over the ears, "hear no evil;" 
third, hand over the mouth, "speak no evil." 

Choosing. — Make marks on the blackboard representing a 
road that forks. If it can be done, have chairs so arranged that 
aisles may represent the same idea. At the point of separation, 
place two signs, with hands, as on a guide-board. On the one 
pointing to the left, have the words Drinkville, Gambleburg, 
Sweartown, Smokevalley, Sorrowland, Lostfield. On the one in- 
dicating the right, have the words Honorbound, Truthton, Clean- 
ville, Joycup, Successtown, Crownland. Ask some boy to walk 
down the aisle to the point of the fork, and pause to choose 
the way he wishes to go. Have the entire group read the 
names aloud together. Call for suggestions to the traveler as 
to which direction to take, and why 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 309 



MUD. 

Gossip. — Make small quantity of mud by pouring water in a 
pan of dirt. Suppose some one throws it on your dress or coat, 
should you throw some on him? Certainly not. You would add 
to your trouble by soiling your own hands. When is the best 
time to remove the spot? No, not right away, nor by rubbing it, 
for you would simply make it larger. Wait until it dries, and 
it will come off easy, leaving the garment unharmed. ... If any 
one speaks unkindly or tells falsehoods about us, we injure our- 
selves if we likewise treat them. Again, if we wait awhile we 
may talk it over with the offender, when we are more calm, and 
come out of the unpleasant incident unharmed. 

PETRIFACTION. 

Living. — (If possible, obtain pieces of petrified wood, and 
exhibit with green twig from a tree.) Before a tree can become 
like stone it must cease to be alive; stop growing, and become 
subject to outside forces — "the infiltration of water containing 
dissolved mineral matter." We speak of certain individuals as 
being "hardened" ; others, as "hard-hearted." In either instance 
we refer to an abnormal condition. The infiltration of selfish- 
ness has done its work for them. Those who are "alive" to the 
needs of humanity and to their own opportunities for meeting 
such needs; who are "growing" in good works and in apprecia- 
tion of the joy of helping others — are never hardened, nor made 
hard-hearted. They are living and not petrified. 

PLANTS. 

Environment. — Show a stalk or piece of vine that has grown 
in the sunshine, with its natural shade of rich green. If possible, 
obtain a growth of the same species that was deprived of the 
sunlight — perhaps taken from a cellar, basement or dark room. 
What caused the difference? Then, if pure, warm air and sun- 
shine are necessary to healthy plant-life, what about healthy 



310 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



boy-life and girl-life? What is even more important than sun- 
light for boys and girls, men and women? Soul-light, certainly. 
In John 8 : 12 we read that Jesus said : "I am the light of the 
world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall 
have the light of life." 

PICTURES. 

Example. — Show picture of a demonstrator, clipped from an 
advertisement or procured from a grocer. This woman repre- 
sents a big firm. It is her duty to show goods, tell how to use 
them, and pass out samples. If she does this well, she is a worthy 
representative of the company. It should be the business of each 
of us to be demonstrators for God — to show forth his power 
and goodness in our daily lives, that others may be impressed 
to do likewise. If we do this well, we are worthy representatives 
of our Creator and Saviour. 

Cheerfulness. — Exhibit a photograph. When we have our 
pictures taken we try to look our best. We would not think of 
frowning. Why not be pleasant all the time? If we cultivate 
the habit of cheerfulness, the face will naturally be pleasant. If 
we are right within, the outside will be right. "A glad heart 
maketh a cheerful countenance," we read in Prov. IS : 13. Try it. 

This helpful and important sentiment is found in one of the 
Psalms: "Thy word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not 
sin against thee." 

POISON. 

Thoughts. — Obtain a "poison" label from a druggist, or write 
the word in bold letters on a piece of paper, and paste on a 
bottle. What effect would even one drop of poison have on the 
system, if swallowed? It would mean certain death, unless an 
antidote be quickly administered. . . . Evil thoughts are like 
poison. Just one will paralyze the better nature, unless an anti- 
dote is taken. The best antidote is good thoughts. They crowd 
out the poison ones. Beware of poison! 



FOR PUBUC SPEAKERS 311 



POSTAGE-STAMPS. 

Perseverance. — (Show stamp of any denomination that has 
not been used.) When this is placed on a letter it will stay with 
it until it has reached its destination. "It stays with the job," as 
some one has expressed it. Let's learn the lesson for ourselves. 

Service. — (Exhibit stamp that has been used.) We see here 
the marks indicating that this stamp has accomplished the pur- 
pose for which it was intended. Our paths should be "marked" 
by good deeds all along the way, indicating that we are accom- 
plishing the purpose God has in our lives. 

SCALES. 

Growth. — (Hand-scales will do.) When boys and girls are 
growing up they frequently get weighed. They want to become 
men and women. But they are not thinking of how much they 
will weigh when they have attained their growth, but what they 
will do. Conduct makes up life. We speak of one person as 
being a prominent politician, another as a great society leader, 
and so forth. We know, however, that those who have the 
most "weight" in a community of upright citizens are the men 
and women who are the least selfish and work for the best 
interests of the largest number of people. The "weight of their 
influence" is always on the side of right. 

STRING. 

Jnited Effort. — Give to each of a number of boys a string 
seven or eight feet in length. Have in the room some object 
weighing ten to fifteen pounds, and ask each boy if any one of 
the strings is strong enough to raise it from the floor. "No." 
Then, how can we manage it? Twist the strings all into one 
cord. (Suit the action to the word.) So, boys, we feel we can 
do but little by ourselves, but when we all work together, we can 
accomplish much. 

Habits. — Have a boy hold up both hands together. Tie a 
21 



312 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



string around them and ask him to break it. Then put it twice 
around, which he will also easily snap. Keep on, tying with 
one more each time until he can not break them. . . . The boy 
who does a wrong act once may quit it ; yes, twice, or thrice, but 
if he continues he will come to the time when the habit has all 
but conquered him, and he can break it only by great effort, if 
at all. 

STATIONERY. 

Influence. — Here are paper, pen and ink, Fred. Please write 
in bold letters, "We live in deeds, not years." Thanks, that's well 
done. Now, there's a still better way of writing. Paul tells us 
about it in the third chapter of 2 Corinthians, third verse. Let's 
read it all together: "Ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered by 
us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God; 
not in tables of stone, but in tables that are hearts of flesh." 
We see that right-living is the important thing. When we write 
on the hearts of others, we are writing for eternity. 

STEEL. 

Growth. — (Obtain from your hardware dealer a pound of 
steel, and from your jeweler, a hairspring for a watch; he will 
probably loan you a good one, or present you a broken one, 
which will answer your purpose. Place the spring in a small 
oval bottle, corked, so it may be seen without touching.) This 
pound of steel is worth a nickel, more or less. If it should be 
made into hair-springs its value would be increased to $2,000. 
A pound of gold, worth $216, when manufactured into jewelry, 
is worth only about $500. Isn't it really wonderful that a pound 
of steel may be increased in value forty thousand times, while 
a pound of gold can hardly be made to treble its original value? 
History gives us many instances of boys who had to win their 
way practically unaided — possessing little else than the steel of 
courage, tempered with patient persistence, but who were deter- 
mined to make their efforts count for the greatest possible good 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 313 



— far surpassing others blessed with every advantage that gold 
could bring to them. 

TOOLS. 

Gossip. — Hammer. We may use this in putting up a build- 
ing or in tearing one down. Do you know any one who goes 
around tearing down human buildings — characters? who almost 
habitually finds fault with others? What do we call such per- 
sons? Knockers; that's the name. Don't be a knocker. Be a 
builder. Be a helper. 

Harmony. — Plane. We use this to make rough boards smooth. 
Think of some one you know who is always trying to make 
things pleasant — straightening out little quarrels and keeping 
everybody "sweet." Like the plane, such people are making 
rough places smooth. "Blessed are the peacemakers : for they 
shall be called sons of God." 

Determination. — (Prepare an inch board, about 6x12, by 
marking and lettering as here indicated, with heavy pencil. Give 



CHRISTIAN 


LAWYER 


DOCTOR 


TEACHER 


MINISTER 


SURVEYOR 


MECHANIC 


ELECTRICIAN 


ATHLETE 


BOOKKEEPER 


FARMER 


MERCHANT 


POLITICIAN 


REFORMER 


RAILROADER 



out beforehand two nails to each of several boys, and have con- 
cealed hammer near. When ready, hold up the board.) We 
have here in this large square the word "Christian," and in each 
small square the name of some occupation. Will the boys who 
kave nails in their pockets please come forward? Of themselves, 
nails are like good resolutions, good intentions, right desires — 
useless. You must have the hammer of determination to drive 
them, to use them for their intended purpose. (Bring forth the 



314 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



hammer.) Will each of you who is a Christian, or expects to be, 
please drive a nail in the large square (indicating same), and 
also one in the small square bearing the name of what you wish 
to become in life? (In the first school where this was used, the 
seven boys who came forward each drove a nail in the large 
square, and then another in some one of the small squares. The 
scene made a wonderful impression upon the audience, as well as 
upon the boys themselves.) 

TOY BALLOON. 

Trouble. — How many of you have knives? All right; James, 
Seth and Harold, please open yours and make an effort to cut 
a hole in this balloon. (As they prepare to follow your request, 
break the string holding it to your desk, thus permitting it to 
rise to the ceiling.) Why don't you cut it, boys? Can't reach 
it? What made it go up? Because it is lighter than its sur- 
roundings. You notice it simply arose above the trouble which 
was apparently in store for it. You can do the same thing, 
every one of you. If a quarrel is started, have nothing to do 
with it. If some one would injure you by falsehood, rise above 
it. Be above conduct of any kind of which your conscience does 
not approve. 

WATCH. 

Love. — One kind of watch manufactured contains over three 
hundred pieces. Regardless of how much or how little a watch 
may cost, there's one part which must be in its place and in 
good shape if it is to keep correct time. Who will name it? 
The mainspring, yes. . . . It's like people. They may be rich or 
poor, educated or uneducated, and yet, if they are to fill their 
place in the world in the right way, they must have the main- 
spring of right action — love. When you go home, please read 
the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians once more, with the 
mainspring in mind, and you will see that love is the one thing 
of supreme importance. 



BETTER THAN A SCRAPBOOK 



A CONVENIENT CLIPPING SYSTEM. 



Public speakers feel the need of information obtainable from 
newspapers, magazines and other publications, aside from all 
the helps that books may provide. A good clipping system is 
essential in keeping up to date. Furthermore, there is personality 
in the selection one makes for himself. 

In this busy age we want the system that will save the most 
time and prove the most convenient. The scrapbook has the 
disadvantage of limited space, as a whole, and is not satisfactory 
for continuous classification by subjects. The pigeon-hole plan 
requires too much unused space. Preservation of publications 
soon becomes cumbersome. 

The envelope system is ideal If you adopt it, buy large 
envelopes — the best and most durable you can get, open on the 
side. On the upper left-hand corner of each make the letters — 



taining information on the subjects given. Other subjects to be 
added as clippings are obtained. 

It will be observed that each is preceded by a number. All 
clippings on a subject should bear the same number, correspond- 
ing with the one on the face of envelope. Thus it is possible, on 




1. ALASKA 

2. ATHLETICS 

3. AMBITION 

4. ADVENTS 

5. ASTRONOMY 

6. APPEARANCE 

7. ARARAT 

8 ASSASSINATION 



large "A" on the one for sub- 
jects commencing with this let- 
ter ; "B" for the one containing 
clippings on subjects beginning 
with the second letter of the 
alphabet, and so on. The illus- 
tration shows a possible arrange- 
ment of the "A" envelope, con- 



315 



316 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



the instant, with a mass of thousands of clippings on hundreds 
of subjects, from "A" to "Z," to segregate just those you want. 
Suppose you wish to make a talk on "Ambition," or any theme 
related to it. Take from the "A" envelope all clippings bearing 
the number "3," and you are ready for work, without the waste 
of a minute. 

Another advantage of this system over the scrapbook is that 
if you wish to take a particular article to some meeting, or loan 
it to a friend, it is easily done. 

If you are making a special study of a subject, with many 
clippings, covering a considerable period of time, it would be 
well to use a separate envelope. 

If you have much reading, it may not be desirable to 
at once cut out the articles you wish to keep. Others in the 
family may not have perused the publications. Under such cir- 
cumstances, mark the item with a large, bold "X" — or in any 
way you prefer — and mark the top of the first page, or cover, 
in the same way. By the side of this outside "X" make an "O" 
when later you have clipped the material you wish to keep. Then 
the paper may be put aside, given away, or destroyed, so far as 
you are concerned. The same system will prove of convenience 
even though no one else has access to your literature, particularly 
if you sometimes get behind with your reading and clipping. 



AN OCCASIONAL PRIVILEGE 

EFFECTIVE METHOD OF RAISING 
MONEY. 

It sometimes happens that a public speaker can render helpful 
service by raising money for various purposes. One of the most 
simple and effective plans is the "square" system, which may be 
varied to suit the occasion. 

If it is $10,000 for the dedication of a new church, have a 
blackboard or chart representing one hundred squares, at $100 



LOYAL SONS' CARPET FUND 

56 Yards— 80c. Each 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 


X 

















































each. One person may subscribe any amount. Mark off with 
an "X" one square for each $100. Two persons with $50 each, 
or four with $25, may combine in taking one square. 

31T 



318 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



If it is to buy a carpet for a room in the church, let each 
square represent a yard. Money for a new sidewalk may be 
obtained in the same way; and, with slight variations, for other 
purposes. 

Those not familiar with this method can hardly realize how 
effective it may be made. An element of great merit which 
must impress one is that the amount, for whatever purpose de- 
sired, may easily be kept in mind by all present, and that every 
one may see the progress as indicated by checking off the 
squares, thus stimulating interest and response as the work 
proceeds. 



SEED THOUGHTS 



SUGGESTIONS IN PARAGRAPHS. 

Quest must precede conquest. 
"If you wish to go up, get down." 
"The best kind of tact is contact." 
One to-day is worth two to-morrows. 
"To forget a wrong is the best revenge." 
v "One of these days is none of these days." 
Be not simply good; be good for something. 
"A good word is as soon said as a bad one." 
"Every drunkard was once a moderate drinker." 
"The best thing in the world is to live above it." 
"It is well to think well ; it is divine to act well." 
* Don't delay. To-day will be yesterday to-morrow. 
"Gold goes in at every gate except that of heaven." 
To be a man too soon is to be a small man. — Ruskin. 
"Honor your position : don't wait for it to honor you." 
The only way to have a friend is to be one. — Emerson. 
"The things we do not possess make life worth living." 
Live right. You may be old at forty or young at eighty. 
"Provide for the worst ; the best will take care of itself." 
"If you can not do what you like, try to like what you do." 
Don't be a knocker. You can't "saw wood" with a hammer. 
"The present is the future from which we hoped so much." 
"Simple diet is best, for many dishes bring many ailments." 
"If things were to be done twice, all of us would be wise." 
Whitewashing the pump will not purify the water. — 7. Ellis. 
Having and holding is poverty; having and giving is wealth. 
319 



320 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



A man can not fail who believes in himself. — James G. Blaine. 
"A good scare will often help a man more than good advice." 
"He that is afraid of doing too much always does too little." 
"The truest end of life is to know the life that never ends." 
Buried seeds will grow, but buried talents will not. — Beecher, 
"There is nothing terrible in death, save what life has made 
so." 

One way to get ahead and stay ahead is to use a head. — Ambi- 
tion. 

"The chief sign of inefficiency is the dread of working over- 
time." 

The best test of apostolic succession is apostolic success. — 
Ellis. 

_ Many persons are like sun-dials — friends only when the sun 

shines. 

In giving, man receives more than he gives. — George Mac- 
donald. 

He who is lavish in words is apt to be niggard in deeds.— 
Raleigh. 

"If some people would laugh more, their doctor bills would 
be less." 

"Be as kind as you can to-day, because you may be gone to- 
morrow." 

They are never alone who are accompanied by noble thoughts. 
— Sidney. 

"The Christian on his knees sees more than the philosophei* 
on tiptoe." 

He who talks much of what he has done is not likely to do 
much more. 

The Bible fits man for life and prepares him for death. — 
Daniel Webster. 

"A wise man will neither speak nor do what anger would 
provoke him to." 

I have not so great a struggle with my vices, great and 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 321 



numerous as they are, as I have with my impatience. — John Cal- 
vin. 

The larger the income, the harder it is to live within it. — 
Whatley. 

"The devil has no happy old people." All of God's old people 
are happy. 

"The wages of sin is death, no matter how promptly we pay 
the pew rent." 

When parents spoil the children it is the egotism of parental 
love. — Carlyle. 

Age is not measured by years, but by the heart and spirit. — 
Lillian Russell. 

Three bar scenes in logical order: The saloon, the courtroom 
and the prison. 

"You can not have two better friends than the twin brothers 
Pull and Push." 

"Fate is inside, not outside, a young man when he enters the 
field of struggle." &4+4,s&/€ 

"Have patience. If you will pick the blossoms, you must do 
without the fruit." 

Whatever you dislike in another person, take care to correct 
in yourself. — Sprat. 

"The casual interruptions we meet in life are less obstructions 
than opportunities." 

Don't hold back because you can't do much. "Every pea 
helps to fill the sack." 

"One can not praise a man too much who speaks well of them 
who speak ill of him." 

Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence or 
learning. — F. W. Faber. 

"God often has a great share in a little house, and a little 
share in a great house." 

"The fellow who is fired with enthusiasm for his work is 
seldom fired by the boss." 



322 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



"You can't take your money to heaven with you, but you can 
send it on ahead of you." 

"There are no elevators in the house of success. You must 
toil up, a step at a time." 

The less religion a church has, the more oyster soup it takes 
to run it. — Billy Sunday. 

"He who loves the buds and blossoms is little concerned about 
the briars and brambles." 

"There is more chance for a cripple on the right road than 
for a racer on the wrong." 

I thank God that the Pilgrim Fathers struck a rock when 
they landed. — P. S. Hansen. 

Youth is a principle set in the world's heart for the world's 
renewing. — Hugh McLellan. 

Those who stay in the ruts have but to change the last two 
letters to get the result — rust. 

Our ground for believing in a future life is simply because 
God is. — Florence Nightingale. 

The men who move the world are the ones who do not let 
the world move them. — /. Ellis. 

A judicious silence is always better than truth spoken with- 
out charity. — Francis De Sales. 

Japanese proverb : "A man takes a drink, the drink takes a 
drink, then drink takes the man." 

Brains in the head and love in the heart are worth more to a 
real man than money in the bank. 

"Happiness is a perfume you can not pour on others without 
getting a few drops on yourself." 

Eve's fall in six scenes: Listening, Looking, Longing, Sin- 
ning, Tempting, Blaming. — Tarbell. 

Disappointment should be taken as a stimulant and never as 
a disappointment. — C. B. Newcomb. 

When Alexander the Great was asked how he conquered the 
world, he replied: "By not delaying." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 323 



Contentment abides with truth. The mask soon becomes an 
instrument of torture. — Arthur Helps. 

There are a great many church-members who are just hob- 
bling about on crutches. — D. L. Moody. 

He who can not forgive others breaks the bridge over which 
he must pass himself. — George Herbert. 

Cut out the fear of things that never happen and you will 
reduce your troubles 90 per cent. — Grit. 

The timepiece that won't run can be right only twice in every 
twenty-four hours. Moral: Keep busy. 

A miser grows rich by seeming poor. An extravagant man 
grows poor by seeming rich. — Shenstone. 

"Dissatisfaction with our condition is often due to the false 
idea we have of the happiness of others." 

Don't ruin your eyes looking for spots on the sun. Go about 
your work, enjoying its warmth and light. 

Men are generally more desirous of being improved in their 
portraits than in their characters. — Lowell. 

No picture ever painted, no statue ever carved, is half so 
beautiful as the Christ-formed man. — Hillis. 

Christ's sheep are marked in the ear and the foot — "they 
hear my voice and follow me." — W. J. Bath. 

Expert bridge-builders make their structures seven or eight 
times stronger than the ordinary traffic needs. 

Forget not to show love to boys, for thereby some have 
entertained great men unawares. — >L. R. Harlan. 

The fellow who delights in drawing much on a cigarette 
spoils his chances for drawing much on a bank. 

"If men would take more candy and fewer grouches home 
with them, there wouldn't be so many divorces." 

"No man can make or break a habit in a moment, but at any 
moment we can begin to make or break a habit." 

"Those who would make their lives count, should be counted 
among those upon whom some church may count." 



324 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



An hour a day profitably employed would make an ignorant 
man a well-informed man in ten years. — Marden. 

There is no witness so terrible, no accuser so powerful, as 
^conscience* that dwells in every breast. — Polybius. 

Work is not man's punishment. It is his reward and his 
strength, his glory and his pleasure. — George Sand. 

As you live, so must you pass from this earth. Keep your 
record clean. God's bookkeeper makes no mistakes. 

A man without a country is an exile in the world, and a 
man without God is an orphan in eternity. — Van Dyke. 

Little minds are too much wounded by little things. Great 
minds see all, and are not even hurt. — La Rochefoucauld. 

It is better that great souls should dwell in small houses 
rather than that slaves should lurk in palaces. — Epictetus. 

"Give the children a chance. Normal conditions make normal 
boys and girls, who in turn make normal men and women." 

"If you try to throw dust in other people's eyes, you must 
not be surprised if they become blind to your good points." 

Live so that all who know you, but don't know Christ, will 
want to know him because they know you. — Meade McGuire. 

I have seen many dying-beds, but never one which seemed 
a proper place to make preparation for eternity. — Albert Barnes. 

"If you trust, you are trusted; if you suspect, you are sus- 
pected; if you love, you are loved; if you hate, you are hated." 

Fretting is a confession of weakness; it is like the little dog 
pawing and whining at a door because he can't get in. — Beecher. 

The mistake of optimistic people is not in expecting too much 
of the future, but in exacting too little from the present. — Tyler. 

Plan your work and work your plan. Heard at a church 
convention: "A missionary budget is a good thing if you budge 
it." 

The pivot of piety is prayer. A pivot is of double use — it 
holds in place, and it is the axis of revolution. — Arthur T. Pier- 
son. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 325 



Bear the hen's cackle for the sake of the egg. Little annoy- 
ances must be put up with because of great advantages. — Spur- 
geon. 

Be grateful to those who serve you. The tree we so much 
admire would die were it not for the roots which are out of 
sight. 

"The Bible is the most wonderful book in all the world — if 
it's true. It is ten thousand times more wonderful if it is not 
true." 

The reason a lot of people can not find Opportunity is be- 
cause it goes around disguised as Hard Work. — Cincinnati En- 
quirer. 

The goods on the shelves should be as good as those in the 
show-window. The practice of man should be as good as his 
profession. 

"In every pathway in the journey of life there are valleys to 
cross, as well as hills to scale. Don't stop in the valleys. Reach 
the hilltops." 

/ The man whose house is on the sand may talk boldly in fair 
weather, but how quickly he turns pale when thunder is heard. — 
E. P. Brown. 

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am 
not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to the light I 
have. — Lincoln. 

What the world thinks of you is nothing. It is between you 
and your Maker. What do you think of yourself? What does 
God think of you ? 

Question: Which is the most important — the elimination of 
coal smoke from the cities, or the elimination of tobacco smoke 
from everywhere ? 

The youth gets together his materials to build a palace, and 
at length the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed 
with them. — Thoreau. 

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should 



326 ILLUSTRATIVE INCIDENTS 



find in each man's life enough sorrow and suffering to disarm 
all hostility. — Longfellow. 

It is good to be thrown overboard and left to ourselves. What 
we lose in comfort we gain in energy — the most precious of 
weapons. — Charles Wagner. 




Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2007 




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A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

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(724) 779-2111 

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